Dozens of protesters, most of whom were from the Ethiopian-Israeli community, gathered on Wednesday afternoon in Tel Aviv to protest the prosecution's decision not to charge the driver who hit and killed four-year-old Refael Adana with manslaughter.
Protesters blocked the Ayalon Highway, and according to the police, demonstrators violently broke through police lines.
During the demonstration, a protester stabbed a police officer on Menachem Begin Road. The officer was taken in moderate condition for treatment at Ichilov Hospital. The suspect fled, and officers are in pursuit.
After the stabbing, the police claimed that rocks and other projectiles were thrown at officers, injuring two of them. One officer's finger was broken by a rock that hit him, and an additional officer was hit in the head by a projectile.
Earlier in the day, unknown suspects vandalized the dentist's office of Dr. Heidi Fassler, the daughter of the driver and the owner of the vehicle, and sent her threatening messages.
The Central District Prosecutor's Office revealed the information that led to the decision to close the case against the owner of the vehicle who was involved in the hit-and-run accident.
The Prosecutor's Office rejected the claim that the vehicle that killed Adana was taken to an auto repair shop, insisting that it was confiscated by the police and that the damage caused in the accident was also visible on the vehicle. The Office also explained why an indictment for manslaughter has not been filed, noting that the traffic investigators ruled that the accident was not preventable and that the driver was unable to avoid it.
"The accident did not take place at a crosswalk but on a road which had a traffic island with plants in it, and therefore it was found that the driver acted with the speed permitted under law, about 55 kilometers per hour, and essentially had no responsibility for the accident occurring - only for abandoning the minor," the Prosecutor's Office said.
In the accident, which occurred on Saturday, May 6, during the afternoon hours, the vehicle hit Refael as he crossed Ben Gurion Boulevard in Netanya together with his grandfather.
Adana was critically injured in the accident and four days later was declared dead in the hospital. The driver of the vehicle, who is suspected of escaping the scene, was arrested the day after the accident and taken for questioning.