A Haifa resident was charged Monday with aggravated assault after he pushed an old man under the wheels of a bus.
According to the indictment, at 8pm on Jan. 13, 23-year-old Tawfiq Jarar was at the "Beit HaKranot" bus station in the northern city and riding an electric bike blocking 71-year-old Yaakov Telem's path, as he attempted to get off the bus.
Telem asked Jarar to move in order to allow him to get off. After moving his bike, Jarar turned around and "sprinted to the end of the station, where he punched [Telem's] head. As a result, the plaintiff was slammed against the bus' windshield, which cracked, fell on the ground while the bus was moving, running him over and wounding him," according to the indictment.
Telem was seriously hurt and was immediately evacuated to Haifa's Rambam Health Care Campus.
(Video: Israel Police)
Initially, Jarar denied the allegations against him, but later confessed and expressed his regret. Jarar has already been sentenced to prison, serving 20 months for drug-related offenses.
"It was a moment of shock, an incredible pain cuts through my legs and I am still conscious," Telem said from the hospital.
"I told the driver to reverse, that is all I remember."
Telem dubbed the moment rescue workers came to evacuate him as the "moments of terror."
"I was wounded during my military service at the Suez Canal in the Attrition War, but this is not even close," he added.
First published: 20:34, 01.25.21