The Jerusalem District Attorney's Office on Monday morning sent an indictment letter to the city's District Court charging Lakiya resident Farkhan Alsaneh, 27, with manslaughter and driving without a valid license.
According to the indictment, Alsaneh three weeks ago took his uncle's truck and drove it out of Lakiya towards Rahat, and then continued on towards Beit Shemesh.
However, Alsaneh did not have a valid drivers' license.
Just before 4:30a.m., Alsaneh was driving on Route 38 towards Jerusalem and passed a section of road undergoing construction. This part of the road was blocked by construction vehicles, and the free area was too narrow to allow vehicles to pass.
When Alsaneh reached this area, he got out of his car, went over to the fence, and used a metal pipe to move the fence enough that he could pass. He then got back into his car and used it to further push the fence until a part broke off, and fell on the road to Beit Shemesh in a fashion which blocked most of the lanes. Following this, Alsaneh drove away from the scene.
A shot time later, a truck driver on the road to Beit Shemesh drove over the broken piece fence, and his truck veered left and into oncoming traffic, hitting another car and killing its driver, Elhanan Batzri.
As a result of the collision, Batzri was critically injured and both cars swerved into another lane, crashing into the cement fence at the side of the road. Batzri was trapped in his car for approximately an hour, and died."Alsaneh is being charged with acting or failing to act, in a forbidden fashion and causing the victim's death. He drove without a valid license and under the influence of drugs, damaged several cars, and killed one person," the indictment wrote, adding a request that Alsaneh be arrested and released only after legal proceedings against him are concluded.