Passenger in deadly hit-and-run released

Police on Tuesday released Netanya hit-and-run suspect Yohai Glicksman to house arrest, saying he was “no longer a suspect” in the incident itself but was still under investigation for obstructing the investigation.

Glicksman’s attorney Boaz Kenig said the authorities should have released him days ago. Glicksman was arrested shortly after an August 17 hit-and-run attack that left three female pedestrians dead.

The three were all members of a single family: Alexandra Rubinov, 67, of Netanya, and Svetlana and Shoshana Yegudiev, 56 and 25 respectively, a mother and daughter who were residents of Dimona visiting their relative in Netanya for the weekend.

“I’m happy [the police] realized he had nothing to do with the accident,” Kenig said.

Police said Glicksman, 26, was a passenger in the car that hit the pedestrians. Glicksman turned himself into the police shortly after the crash claiming to be the driver, but later revoked his statement, saying he was sleeping at home at the time of the accident.

Glicksman’s wife told Army Radio that her husband left their bed in the middle of the night and told her he had to help out a friend. She said she heard Shushan Baraby speaking to him. The next time she saw him, she said, was in the courtroom during his remand hearing.

After a short investigation authorities determined Glickman had tried to take the fall for Baraby, the prime suspect in the incident and a man who had many previous encounters with the law.

After three days of searching, Baraby was found hiding in an industrial building. Police caught him as he tried to escape.