Date:
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Prison service officer tells of giving chase and shooting stabber after
seeing bus swerve
BY STUART WINER January 21, 2015, 11:09 am| The Times of Israel|
Eyewitnesses thrown from a workaday Wednesday morning into the middle of a terror
attack in Tel Aviv described scenes of panic and chaos when a Palestinian man stabbed
over a dozen people on a bus.
One of the prison service officers who helped bring the attack to an end told how he and fellow
officers realized something was wrong when the they saw the bus ahead of them begin to zigzag
down the street.
Beni Butrashvilli and other officers from the prison service’s Nachshon unit, which specializes in
transporting and securing inmates, were traveling in a vehicle behind the number 40 bus when it
started to weave across the road.
“I saw the bus stop on a green light and then people burst out and screamed for help,” he recalled.
“We understood that it was a terror attack.”
The attacker, identified as a 23yearold Palestinian man from Tulkarem, was shot and lightly
injured before being captured.
Butrashvilli said he and the other officers sprang into action, chasing after the stabber as he tried
to make his escape.
“We identified the terrorist and ran after him,” he said. “I blocked him off from one side and the
other officers blocked him off from the left and shot in the air. We shot at his legs, the terrorist
collapsed and fell over, and we handcuffed him and waited for the police to arrive. After we shot
him in the legs he didn’t say anything.”
The attack apparently began when the assailant stabbed the bus driver in the chest as the driver,
Herzl Biton, attempted to fight him off. The man then began to stab others as well.
A passenger on the bus during the attack, which left at least 17 injured, some seriously, told of the
confusion as the attacker began slashing at the driver.
“I heard screams and I didn’t understand what was going on,” he said. “Everyone ran to the rear of
the bus. The terrorist was half a meter from me. The driver didn’t manage to open the doors. As
soon as he did everybody ran out.”
Liel Suissa, an 8th grade student on the bus, said he narrowly escaped from the attacker.
“I threw my bag at the terrorist when he got close to us to keep him away. The driver slammed on
the brakes when he got close to us. The terrorist went flying and I kicked the window and the
window broke and so we were able to exit. Also the driver opened the door,” he said.
The attack occurred as the bus, an urban line running from Bat Yam to the the city’s north,
traversed the busy Maariv Bridge intersection at about 7:30 a.m., a time when it is packed with
cars, buses and pedestrians.
The driver’s niece, Heli Sousan, told reporters outside the Ichilov Hospital that her uncle was in a
serious condition with injuries to his liver, and was undergoing an operation.
She said Biton sprayed the terrorist with pepper spray in an effort to fight back against the assault.
“It is awful,” she said.
A friend told Channel 2 news that the driver called him after being stabbed, telling him, “if anything
happens, take care of my kids.”
Eyewitness Avi Taviv told the Hebrew media website Walla that he saw the bus stop and people
pour out of it.
“I saw the terrorist run from the bus and two prison officers chase after him,” he said. “They fired
in the air and told him to stop but he kept running towards Hamasger Street. They shot him and
overpowered him.”
Tel Aviv District Police Commander Major General Benzi Sau, speaking shortly after the event,
described the attack as “difficult and serious,” the Hebrew media Ynet website reported.
“As soon as he got on the bus he began to attack the driver with a sharp object, injured him
several times, and then stabbed some other passengers,” Sau said.
“The driver’s response was excellent,” he said. “He fought back, he resisted the attack, and in so
doing bewildered the attacking terrorist.”
Sau added that there was a large effort being made to identify other possible suspects involved in
the attack.
“Together with the Shin Bet security service, we are making efforts to find out if he has or had
helpers,” he said.