Police sued after minor claims he was unlawfully arrested
A video of Yedidia Epstein, a 14-year-old resident of Jerusalem, has been circulating social media and led to many criticizing the police, after Epstein is shown handcuffed during his arrest.
By TOBIAS SIEGALJewish women march while police patrol in the Old City during Jerusalem Day, 2019(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
The Police Investigation Unit will look into complaints of a minor from Jerusalem who claims that he was unlawfully handcuffed for hours, according to reports by Haaretz on Monday.A video of Yedidia Epstein, a 14-year-old resident of Jerusalem, has been circulating social media and led to many criticizing the police, after Epstein is shown handcuffed during his arrest. He later claimed that the police used excessive force, injured him and kept him unnecessarily handcuffed for a long period of time. The police on the other hand, has insisted that Epstein and his friends cursed and harassed residents of the Muslim quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem, refused to evacuate the area after several complaints by locals and was barely handcuffed during his stay at the police station.Following the incident and Epstein's claims, the Police Investigation Unit opened an investigation regarding the arrest, according to the reports by Haaretz.Epstein is a member of a haredi (ultra-Orthodox)-Zionist organization that aims at inserting Zionist notions into the haredi community. On Thursday evening he reportedly roamed the Old City of Jerusalem with his friends and read verses from the book of Psalms out loud, including across the Muslim Quarter. Epstein claimed that at this point, Arab teenagers started to curse and tease the group, but the police force that arrived decided to evacuate him and his friends. According to the police, reports came in of a group of teenagers banging on doors, cursing bystanders and harassing the local residents of the Old City at around 23:00 on Thursday night. The policemen who arrived at the scene asked the group to disperse, and at some point Epstein and his friends sat down on the floor and refused to follow the orders. "They were given reasonable time to clear the area. Some of them continued causing provocations and disturbing the peace," the police reported.Epstein refused to leave and was taken aside by one of the police officers. "I was taken to the station and stayed there all night," Epstein said and added that his "parents were not updated about the arrest." According to Epstein, after his arrest he was kept handcuffed for several hours, while policemen made fun of him when he asked them to wear masks and not smoke near him. "They mocked me. I tried to tell the commander, but he wouldn't listen," he said.After a video of Epstein handcuffed during his arrest was released on social media and led to many criticizing the police and its excessive use of force, the police released a message of its own. In an unusual video released by the police, they attempt to show what really happened that night."Contrary to the baseless allegations, no force was used," according to the police. "To the contrary, he was guarded without being handcuffed, and was provided food and water during his stay at the station. Before being investigated, he consulted an attorney," the police added.
The police added that Epstein had presented a limp while walking after the arrest, but "during the night one police officer saw the suspect surprisingly roaming the station without a limp, and when noticed, the suspect started limping again."Epstein's attorney, Itamar Ben-Gvir, said that while it's good that the Police Investigation Unit has opened an investigation surrounding the incident, he will be suing the police. "There's no justification for handcuffing a teenager for five hours [...] The police thinks they can ignore minor laws or basic laws," and called upon those responsible to apologize.
