Two Breslov Hasidim indicted for injuring mother of 11 at violent protest
Meir Katzav, 22, and minor from Jerusalem alleged to have caused serious injury to woman with flaming dumpster; minor also charged with fleeing police arrest
Two followers of the Breslov Hasidic sect were indicted Monday over a serious injury caused to a 40-year-old woman, who was hit by a dumpster that had been sent rolling during a violent protest in December.
Meir Katzav, 22, from the town of Elad, and a minor from Jerusalem whose name cannot be published were indicted by the Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office for their alleged role in the incident, which left the victim in intensive care.
According to the indictment, the pair, aided by others, sought to move a large dumpster into the middle of the road during a protest in the capital’s Mea Shearim neighborhood in response to the arrest of a man suspected of torching a cellphone store several months earlier.
Cellphone stores are sometimes targeted by religious extremists for not complying with “kosher” rules restricting the devices.
After it was lit on fire and moved onto the road, the dumpster rolled down a steep hill and crashed into the back of Mirel Dzalovsky, a mother of 11, leaving her with life-threatening injuries.
The prosecution alleged that the group, seeing the injured woman lying on the pavement, fled the scene.
חיים גולדברג: תיעוד ראשון של רגע דרדור הפח שפגע במירל דז'לובסקי בת ה-40 ופצע אותה קשה ביום חמישי האחרון ברחוב יחזקאל בירושלים @haim_goldberg pic.twitter.com/Ge9sVj14Kf
— חדשות המוקד (@hamoked_il) December 18, 2022
Dzalovsky was taken to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, where she is still hospitalized almost four weeks after the incident occurred.
According to the indictment, three days after the woman was struck, a police officer approached the 16-year-old Jerusalem resident suspected of involvement in the incident, but the suspect threw his electric bike at the police officer, hitting him in the leg, and escaped.
The indictment charged the pair with committing crimes causing serious injury under aggravated circumstances, arson, endangering public roads and obstructing a police officer in the execution of his duties.
The prosecution has asked the court to extend the suspects’ remand.
