"The Department is aware of this incident. We can confirm that, as the dependent of an Israeli consular officer, the concerned individual is not entitled to civil or criminal immunity," the department said in a statement.
As New Times previously reported, the "consular immunity" cited by Gil's legal counsel at a court hearing carries far fewer protections than the immunity provided to full-fledged diplomatic agents. According to the Department of State, consuls such as Gil's father, Eli Gil, are not shielded from criminal prosecution in a host country, nor are their family members.
The Miami-Dade County State Attorney's Office said it is proceeding "as usual" with its investigation and that the case against Avraham Gil remains open.
Gil's attorney, David Seltzer, maintains that his client did not intentionally strike the officer.
The original story follows below.
The teenage son of an Israeli diplomat is facing a felony assault charge for allegedly striking a Sunny Isles Beach police officer with his motorcycle.
On Saturday afternoon, Avraham Gil approached the lieutenant on his motorcycle while "weaving in between vehicles" as the officer performed a traffic stop on Collins Avenue, according to a police report obtained by New Times. When the officer motioned at Gil and yelled at him to stop, Gil instead accelerated toward him and "intentionally ran him over," police allege.
According to the report, the officer suffered an "incapacitating" injury to his left leg. Sunny Isles Beach police arrested Gil on a first-degree felony charge of aggravated battery on a police officer and a second charge of resisting arrest.
Police say his motorcycle did not have a license plate and that Gil was driving it without a valid license.
"It should be noted that Avraham spontaneously uttered that he was sorry and that he was just driving in between vehicles to cut in front of the line because he hates waiting behind traffic," the report reads.
Sunny Isles Beach Police Department said an officer suffered an "incapacitating" leg injury when a 19-year-old motorcyclist collided with him.
Sunny Isles Beach Police photo
Records show he was released on his own recognizance. His arraignment is scheduled for February 26.
Local 10, which broke the news of the incident, reported that Gil is the son of Eli Gil, a diplomat at Miami's Israeli Consulate. The outlet turned up video of a prior encounter apparently showing the teenager pulled over by Miami Shores police in December, an encounter in which he references his dad's job as a consul and asks the cop, "Would you like me to call him?"
While interacting with Miami Shores police during the December incident, Avraham Gil had a license plate on his motorcycle that read, "Pls Chase." Dashcam video shows that Miami Shores police later encountered the same motorcycle in mid-January and made a note of the license plate before the driver fled and zoomed away.
Avraham Gil's attorney argued at a county court hearing that he is entitled to "consular immunity" via his father's role at the consulate.
According to the U.S. Department of State, consular immunity provides limited immunity to consular agents, which shields them from criminal prosecution in connection with their official duties but does not provide the same level of sweeping immunity applied to full-fledged diplomatic agents, who generally cannot be prosecuted by a host country.
The State Department says that "absent a bilateral agreement, the family members of consular officers enjoy no personal inviolability and no jurisdictional immunity of any kind."
A LinkedIn account that appears to belong to Eli Gil shows that he attended the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a public university cofounded by Albert Einstein, and has been a diplomat since the late 1980s.
This is a breaking story. Please check back for updates.
