Last update - 00:00 07/03/2007
Border Police accused of beating, detaining man for no reason
By Roni Singer-Heruti, Haaretz Correspondent
The Justice Ministry's Police Investigation Department filed a complaint Wednesday by a man claiming that Border Police officers in Tel Aviv detained him without motive, beat him and threatened to charge him with criminal offenses if he complained to police.
Border Police units have been stationed in Tel Aviv in the past half year to bolster the police presence in the city, particularly in its southern area.
The complainant, Boris Raskin, has no criminal record. Raskin works as a surveyor and lives in Beit Shemesh with his wife and three children.
On February 20, he drove to Tel Aviv, parking in the area of the old central bus station to avoid traffic. From there, he rode a bus to his destination.
Around 6:00 P.M., he returned to the street where his car was parked, an area frequented by drug dealers and prostitutes.
Raskin's attorney, Daria Goldin, said he was not bothering anyone at the time of the incident.
"While standing beside his vehicle, searching for his car keys, he heard someone yell, 'Hey, you there.' Boris, believing one of the unsavory characters milling around the area might be trying to bother him, shouted 'Leave me alone,' and rushed to enter his car," she said.
When those yelling at him came closer, Raskin noticed that there were two of them, a man and a woman, both wearing the army-style uniforms.
Raskin said the man pushed him and asked what he was doing in the area.
"When Boris tried to demand his rights, and to demand that the two identify themselves, they refused," the attorney said, adding that Raskin was unaware that he was dealing with Border Police officers.
They later identified themselves as police officers, she said, but Raskin misunderstood and believed they were criminals trying to bother him.
Raskin told police that at one point the female officer said to him, "Are you calling the officer standing before you a whore? That's a criminal offense, and I'm going to arrest you."
Raskin was later transported to Yiftach District police headquarters on Salome Street, after the officers had searched his vehicle.