appeal (H)
On 20 April 2004, Adalah filed an appeal to the State Attorney’s Office against the decision of the Ministry of Justice Police Investigation Unit (“Mahash”) to close its file against police officers, who shot and killed 17-year-old Mahmoud Sadi from Led (Lod), for “lack of guilt”. Adalah submitted the appeal after thoroughly reviewing numerous documents including the autopsy report, testimonies of police officers and an eyewitness, as well as fingerprint and other forensic evidence, which clearly indicate that Mr. Sadi was killed by the police without posing any danger to them. Adalah argued that the use of deadly force by the police against Mr. Sadi, under these circumstances, constitutes a crime, and that the State Attorney’s Office should submit indictments against them for manslaughter, causing death by negligence, and causing harm with aggravating intent. Adalah Attorney Marwan Dalal submitted the appeal on behalf of Mr. Sadi’s family members.
On the evening of 8 December 2003, Mr. Sadi was killed by police officers in Ramle, a city in the center of Israel. On 11 December 2003, Adalah sent a letter to Mahash requesting the opening of an investigation into the case. In public statements made immediately after the event, the police falsely alleged that the deceased was one of the biggest drug dealers in the area, that he had pointed a gun at one of them from the car he was driving, and that the police had then shot him. In the appeal, Adalah set forth, inter alia, the following arguments of fact and law that indicate that the killing of Mr. Sadi was an illegal, criminal act:
Misidentification of the Victim’s Car
Police officers who took part in the shooting of Mr. Sadi alleged that they had received information via radio transmissions from another police officer, Tomer Faraj. According to these officers, Faraj reported that he heard some gunshots fired in the air from a car - a Mazda. Faraj, in his statement to Mahash, said he saw the Mazda at very close range, from about 7-8 meters away, and that it drove past him slowly. He added that the Mazda he saw was white, with two people who look like Arabs [he used the Hebrew term “bney miu’teem” meaning “minority members”, but particularly used to connote Arabs.] He also stated that he never saw any shooting, but just heard shots after the car had disappeared from his view. Faraj asserted that he had told his colleagues that he had seen a white Mazda with two passengers who looked like Arabs.
Mr. Sadi’s car, a Mazda, was stopped at a red traffic light behind a big taxi and was not avoiding a pursuit, when two police cars - one an unmarked rental car and the other a marked white Toyota, an official police car - surrounded it. Police officers then came out of the cars and shot and killed him. However, the Mazda driven by Mr. Sadi was dark gray and not white and there were three people inside the car and not two. When asked by Mahash whether the car he reported was the same one he saw following the incident, Faraj answered, “No”. According to the statements of police officers involved in the shooting and killing of Mr. Sadi, the streets were well lit and visibility at the scene was clear.
In the appeal, Adalah maintained that the only common factor between Officer Faraj’s information on a “Mazda” and the other officers’ closing in on Mr. Sadi’s car was that the people in the car were Arab or as expressed by the police “bney miu’teem”. Adalah argued that this fact suggests a racial motive behind the police shooting at Mr. Sadi and his car.
Unjustifiable Shooting from Behind
According to the forensic evidence, all of the shooting at the scene was done by police officers and that four police officers shot at least 15 live bullets at Mr. Sadi and his car. The autopsy report of the deceased’s body states that the cause of death was a fatal bullet shot from behind, which hit the back of the victim’s head from the right side.
In his statement to Mahash, police officer Yogev Kogon said that he shot from behind “towards the driver.” Kogon claimed that the Mazda driven by Mr. Sadi posed a danger to him. He stated that he saw a white light coming from the Mazda, which meant that the car was headed in reverse towards him and that is when he shot at the driver. When asked directly by Mahash whether he saw anyone in the Mazda pointing a gun or heard anyone shouting “gun,” Kogon answered, “No”.
Adalah argued that such shooting is illegal. Under the law, even when shots are warranted, the police can only resort to this measure in such a way as to cause as minimal damage as possible to a citizen. In addition, it is a police officer’s duty to verbally warn before shooting and to warn first by shooting in the air. In the appeal, Adalah argued that there was no justification for the shooting, as Kogon could have moved one step away to avoid the car’s path, which did not go in reverse, but according to Kogon, intended to do so. Kogon also resorted to the most dangerous and lethal use of force as a first measure and not as a final one. He shot fatally towards the driver rather than, for example, shooting towards the car’s tires. Thus, he violated his duty under the law.
Unjustifiable Shooting from the Front
Police officer Efi Tshuva shot another bullet that hit Mr. Sadi’s chest from the left side. Tshuva alleged that Mr. Sadi had pointed a gun towards him posing a threat. However, none of the other police officers present at the scene of the killing - in their reports or in their statements to Mahash - said that Mr. Sadi had pointed a gun. In fact, when asked by Mahash about this point, the police officers denied that they saw Mr. Sadi carrying or pointing a gun. Moreover, no police officers claimed that anyone else in Mr. Sadi’s car had carried or pointed a gun at them. Tshuva also claimed that he had shouted “gun” before shooting towards Mr. Sadi, but when asked by Mahash if they heard shouting by anyone about a gun, several police officers, including Kogon as noted above, said “No”.
In the appeal, Adalah argued that except for Tshuva, who shot Mr. Sadi, no other police report or statement documents Mr. Sadi as carrying or pointing a gun or as hearing Tshuva shouting “gun”. In addition, the fingerprint report of the alleged gun held by Mr. Sadi proves that he was not holding a gun, as it did not have his fingerprints on it. Further, the autopsy report of the deceased’s body does not mention any gun residue on his hands or fingers. Moreover, the first police officer to approach Mr. Sadi after he was shot did not claim to have seen any gun with or near Mr. Sadi.
Eyewitness Arik Bar-On’s Statement
The statement of Mr. Arik Bar-On, an eyewitness, supports all of the evidence that Mr. Sadi did not pose any danger to the police officers. Bar-On was very close to the scene, when the police surrounded Mr. Sadi’s car. In his statement, Bar-On said that Mr. Sadi’s had stopped his car at a red traffic light behind a big taxi, when a white Toyota hit it from behind and a rental car closed in on it from the left side. While police officers report that Mr. Sadi’s car started going back and forth - hitting the taxi and the Toyota - the forensic evidence of Mr. Sadi’s car does not note any damage to the front of the car but mentions broken lights on the back of the car.
According to Bar-On, some people in civilian clothing got out of the rental car, surrounded Mr. Sadi’s car, and started to shoot at it heavily. Bar-On added that these persons could not be identified as police officers and only after they had finished shooting and found that an individual had been killed (Mahmoud Sadi), did they put on their police hats. He also stated that he did not see the deceased point a gun towards any of the officers.
Contrary to Mahash’s decision to close the investigatory file for “lack of guilt,” Adalah argued that all of the evidence shows that the police officers, especially Kogon and Tshuva, committed criminal offenses by shooting and killing Mahmoud Sadi, for which they should be indicted. Adalah emphasized that closing the file against the police, despite the findings mentioned above, legitimizes the dangerous use of force by the police against citizens in general, and the Arab Palestinian minority in Israel in particular.