Israeli Teen Whose Motorcycle Hit Sunny Isles Police Officer Gets No Jail Time, Goes to Israel

The protracted saga of an Israeli consular’s son accused of driving his motorcycle into a police officer came to an end on Wednesday when a judge was told that the 19-year-old had completed the terms of a plea deal with the State and would be leaving for Israel later that day. night.

Late last month, after writing a letter to injured Sunny Isles Beach police officer Ruben Zamora filled with apologies and lessons learned, Avraham Gil told the court that after his “significant wake-up call,” he decided to actively serve in the military. of Israel.

The state then agreed to an unusually lenient punishment — no jail time if Gil attended traffic school, completed 100 hours of community service, agreed not to drive and donated $500 to the Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

After learning he had met the requirements on Wednesday, Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Teresa Pooler sent Gil away. Her lawyer, Stephen Millan, told the judge that the family’s visa would expire at the end of the month and that they would return to Israel after the hearing.

Gil and his father, Eli Gil, Israel’s Administrative Consul in Miami, quickly left the courtroom without commenting.

Teenager attacks police officer with his motorcycle

According to the police, it was late afternoon on January 27th when Sunny Isles Beach Police Officer Lt. Zamora left his patrol car and was walking near Collins Avenue and 174th Street. The officer stated that he noticed Gil driving a 2018 black Suzuki weaving in and out of traffic and signaled and yelled for him to pull over.

The teen ignored orders, Zamora said, striking the officer, who somehow managed to knock him to the ground. Zamora’s leg was injured and Gil was taken into custody and initially charged with assault and resisting an officer.

Those charges were dropped. The charge of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer – which carries a 3-year prison sentence – remained.

The court denied Gil’s lawyers’ claims of immunity, and despite additional allegations that the teenager’s arrest was mismanaged, Gil reached a deal with state prosecutors, complied with their demands, and avoided prison time.

Neither Sunny Isles Beach police nor Zamora would comment Wednesday. Ed Griffith, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, said Zamora approved the deal and that the pretrial intervention program offered to Gil, which normally takes six months, was accelerated to accommodate the family’s departure from the country. .

Previous incidents with the police

It also turned out that Gil’s confrontation with the Sunny Isles police officer in late January was not his first brush with the law. A month earlier, on New Year’s Eve, he was stopped by a Miami Shores police officer, also for allegedly speeding and weaving in and out of traffic.

The officer said Gil had a cover over his diplomatic license plate that said “PLS CHASE.” The officer ended up letting him go after learning about the teenager’s father’s job at the Israeli consulate general in Miami. Previously, Miami police said they also spotted Gil running dangerously down Biscayne Boulevard. But they gave up the chase as a precaution.

In Gil’s letter written a few weeks ago directly to Officer Zamora, the teenager said he regrets any harm he may have caused, regrets his poor judgment and asks for forgiveness.

“Please know that I am committed to making amends and moving forward in a positive direction,” Gil wrote. “Please pray for me.”