Two drivers held in hit-and-run crashes near Rehovot

Two drivers, one of whom was driving without a license, were arrested yesterday on suspicion of involvement in two separate hit-and-run accidents.

One of the suspects is a 19-year-old Ramle resident who pulled over near the spot in Rehovot where he is accused of having hit and killed a 50-year-old man.

Police found him crying in a construction site on the side of the road.

He said the victim had run into the road and he was unable to brake in time, adding that he fled the scene of the accident because he had panicked.

Police are checking whether the victim, whose identity is unknown, was homeless. He apparently did not cross the street at a crosswalk.

The second driver, a 27-year-old man from Kiryat Bialik who does not have a driver's license, was arrested in connection with a hit-and-run accident at a major intersection that killed a 49-year-old woman from Kiryat Motzkin on Saturday.

The Haifa Magistrate's Court extended his remand by five days yesterday.

The woman, Emma Ladvitz, was jaywalking when she was hit by a car.

The car took off immediately after impact, witnesses said.

They told police the vehicle was a Mercedes.

The suspect, who said he needs friends to drive him around because he has an eye problem, said the car was his, but that he was not driving it at the time of the accident.

He told police he did not know who was driving at the time.

Yuval Goren and Fadi Eyadat. Two drivers held in hit-and-run crashes. Haartez.com (19 April 2009)