SUNNY ISLES BEACH, Fla. – Nineteen-year-old Avraham Gil appeared to be crying in his Miami-Dade County mug shot over the weekend after Sunny Isles Beach police accused him of purposely running over one of the department’s officers on his motorcycle.
But he may escape two felony charges thanks to who his father is.
Police said just after 3:30 Saturday afternoon, Gil, of Aventura, hit a police lieutenant performing a traffic stop on Collins Avenue, near 174th Street.
An arrest report states that as the officer approached the vehicle he pulled over, Gil came up on his motorcycle, weaving in between vehicles. The officer motioned at Gil and yelled at him to stop, police said, but instead he kept riding towards the lieutenant and “intentionally ran him over.”
The officer, who suffered an “incapacitating” injury to his left leg, grabbed Gil and brought him to the ground to stop him, the report states. Police arrested Gil on a first-degree felony charge of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer with violence.
But those charges may not stick. That’s because Avraham Gil is the son of Eli Gil, a diplomat at the Israeli consulate in Miami.
According to the U.S. Department of State, “Family members forming part of the household of diplomatic agents enjoy precisely the same privileges and immunities as do the sponsoring diplomatic agents.”
Gil’s attorneys argued in court that that applies to him.
But this immunity privilege may not apply to all categories of diplomatic workers and their families, according to legal analyst David Weinstein.
“Diplomatic immunity is not given to people who are called consular officials, and those are people who are not the head diplomatic agent of a foreign country here in the United States, so there is a distinction,” said Weinstein.
The State Department is aware of the case, Local 10 News has learned. The officer remains out of work.