‘Negligent homicide’
Policeman who killed Solomon Tekah indicted
The state prosecution filed an indictment for negligent homicide with the Haifa Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday against the policeman who shot and killed Ethiopian Solomon Tekah in June 2019.
In November 2019, thenstate attorney Shai Nitzan said the policeman, whose name is under gag order, would likely be indicted but would first receive a pre-indictment hearing before a final decision is made.
Though Nitzan had also considered a murder charge early on or even closing the case, he reportedly settled on negligent homicide because the policeman did fire negligently, and the shooting did lead to Tekah’s death.
Tekah’s killing shook the country and led to nationwide protests by the Ethiopian community about dangerous discrimination by police and racism against them in general.
New allegations were constantly emerging, including that Tekah and some of his friends were chasing the policeman when he fired on them wildly without looking.
Although the policeman’s conduct in this case would be problematic, being chased would undermine a murder or manslaughter charge.
Last July, the Police Investigations Department (PID) sent a letter to Tekah’s parents defending the findings of the police ballistics department and the state’s forensics institute (not connected to the police) that the bullet the policeman fired and which killed Tekah was a ricochet.
This issue is also of crucial importance because if the policeman fired at the ground and not directly at Tekah, then he probably cannot be charged with more than involuntary manslaughter, as recommended by the PID.
The department also rejected a request by the parents to view the case file before the prosecution makes a final decision about the alleged charges. It did say it would consider the possibility of performing additional investigatory activities requested by the family.
An autopsy carried out by the PID found that Tekah had a very high blood-alcohol level and residual drugs in his body when he was shot, according to Maariv, The Jerusalem Post’s sister paper.
The autopsy was done at the L. Greenberg Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir, according to sources familiar with the case.
The department condemned leaks from the investigation and expressed sympathy with the family’s anger regarding those leaks.
The police placed the officer who shot Tekah on forced leave last July.
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.