A 34-year-old man from Kiryat Motzkin has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly dousing two police officers with a flammable liquid and setting them on fire, according to an indictment filed Thursday in the Haifa District Court.
The defendant, Ben Nissim Miara, is accused of carrying out the attack on Jan. 22 at his apartment building in Kiryat Motzkin.
Footage of Ben Nissim Miara attacking the police officers
(Video: Israel Police)
According to the charges, Miara had been behaving erratically in the building, allegedly driven by suspicions that strangers were present. He reportedly blocked a resident from leaving, filmed him without consent and threatened him with a knife taken from his pocket.
Prosecutors say Miara repeatedly called emergency hotlines for Magen David Adom, the police and the Fire and Rescue Services, reporting unusual incidents at the building. Dissatisfied with the response, he allegedly decided to escalate his actions to draw police attention.
The indictment states that Miara went to a gas station in Kiryat Bialik, purchased two bottles of water, emptied them and asked to fill them with gasoline. After an employee refused, he allegedly began shouting and demanded that police be called. He then approached a customer’s vehicle, removed the fuel pump nozzle and filled one of the bottles with gasoline without her consent, leaving without paying.
Miara later returned to his apartment building and again called police, threatening to kill himself using the gasoline in his possession. Officers who arrived at the scene attempted to calm him and persuade him to put down a bottle and lighter he was holding.
At one point, when two officers tried to restrain him, Miara allegedly poured the flammable liquid over them and ignited it.
One officer was seriously wounded, suffering burns to about 10% of his body. He was taken to Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa sedated and on a ventilator and is expected to undergo a lengthy rehabilitation process. A second officer sustained second-degree burns. A third officer was struck in the head with a telescopic baton during an attempted escape and required medical treatment.
Additional officers who arrived at the scene arrested Miara. A search of his person allegedly uncovered a knife and more than three grams of cocaine, which prosecutors say was not intended for personal use.
Miara faces charges including attempted murder, arson, aggravated assault, assaulting a police officer under aggravated circumstances, causing injury under aggravated circumstances, obstruction of a police officer in the line of duty, unlawful possession of a knife, making threats, theft, malicious damage to property and possession of a dangerous drug not for personal use.
With the approval of the family of one of the injured officers, footage documenting the severity of his injuries was also released Thursday.