Arrested a man, handcuffed him - and when he was lying on the floor, shot him in the back: police officer convicted

The Central District Court in Lod accepted today, Monday, the appeal of the Police Investigation Department (PID) and convicted a police officer of reckless and negligent conduct, after the Magistrate's Court had ordered the proceedings in his case to be concluded without a conviction.

According to the indictment to which police officer Ohad Mordechai Goldberg confessed, during the arrest of a man at a convenience store at a gas station, Goldberg held an M-16 rifle that was cocked and off safety, with his finger on the trigger. While the complainant was lying on the floor with his hands behind his neck in a position of surrender, Goldberg began to handcuff him and, during the handcuffing, fired at his back. As a result of the shooting, the complainant was injured and was evacuated for medical treatment.

The Magistrate's Court in Kfar Saba decided to conclude the proceedings without a conviction and imposed on Goldberg 100 hours of community service, a six-month supervision order, and compensation to the complainant in the amount of 5,000 shekels. The PID appealed the decision, through attorney Itzik Peretz, and asked the District Court to convict Goldberg.

In the appeal, the PID argued that this was a high level of negligence and a serious deviation from the standard of caution expected of a law enforcement officer. According to the PID, the risk was created as a result of Goldberg's negligent conduct, as he cocked the weapon, disengaged the safety, and left his finger on the trigger while the complainant was already lying on the floor, restrained, and in a position of surrender. The PID further argued that concluding the proceedings without a conviction does not befit the severity of the acts and could send a lenient and dangerous message regarding the use of weapons by police officers.

The court accepted the PID's position and convicted Goldberg. The court noted:

"It is clear to us that at the time of the incident, a security reality prevailed that our country had not known before. However, even in a tense security reality, police officers in the Israel Police constitute the daily expression of the rule of law throughout the country. Public trust in the Israel Police is conditional, among other things, on the public being able to be convinced that police officers will be able to restrain themselves and act professionally, even when they encounter risk situations."

The court also accepted the PID's position that the question of a police officer's dismissal or promotion should not determine the question of his conviction, and ruled that decisions regarding the continuation of his service and his promotion are left to the discretion of the authorized bodies in the Israel Police.