Authorities in Sunny Isles Beach were confused about whether they would be able to charge a teen who allegedly ran over a police officer with a crime.
Avraham Gil was arrested, mug-shotted, and later released after police were informed they could not keep him or charge him because his father is a U.S. diplomat.
However, the United States government has now set the record straight on whether the diplomat’s son is above the law.
Gil’s lawyers thought he would avoid facing two felony charges after allegedly running over a Sunny Isles Beach Lt. Ruben Zamora during a traffic stop on Collins Avenue near 174th St. on Saturday, Jan. 27, because of his father.
The officer told him to stop “weaving in-between vehicles.” Still, instead of following the officer’s command, a police report states he accelerated his vehicle and “intentionally ran him over,” causing him to injure his leg.
“Lt. Zamora stated that the defendant then intentionally ran him over at which point he grabbed the defendant with both of his hands and redirected him towards the ground to stop him,” according to the report.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue paramedics transported Zamora to HCA Florida Aventura Hospital.
In addition to the collision, police reports indicate that Gil was driving without a valid license and operating a motorcycle that had no license plate on it. He was also fined $300 for not having a license, which the state requires.
“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, according to the Miami New Times.
Police bodycam footage of the incident has been released to the proper authorities.
The 19-year-old was then nabbed by the police and hit with a first-degree felony charge for aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer with violence.
Shortly after taking his mug shot, in which he looked as if he was crying, higher-ups were called, and Gil was released.
Gil is the son of Eli Gil, a diplomat stationed at the Israeli consulate in Miami. Diplomatic immunity provisions extend to “family members forming part of the household of diplomatic agents [who] enjoy precisely the same privileges and immunities as do the sponsoring diplomatic agents,” as stated by the U.S. Department of State.
While the teen’s lawyer contends that these regulations apply to him, some legal analysts believe Gil’s family is stretching the interpretation to keep him out of trouble, noting that his father is not the type of diplomat included in this exception.
“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,” legal analyst David Weinstein told Local 10.
This also aligns with what the State Department states, “absent a bilateral agreement, the family members of consular officers enjoy no personal inviolability and no jurisdictional immunity of any kind.”
Now, authorities will be moving forward with Gil’s arrest.
“Defense counsel’s representation was relied upon and the defendant was released on his own recognizance,” the state attorney’s office said, according to the Miami Herald. “After receiving confirmation from the State Department, Office of Foreign Missions, that neither the defendant nor his father have diplomatic immunity, we are proceeding as usual with our investigation.”
The U.S. Department of State even backed the State Attorney’s Office up.
“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.
This is also not the first time Gil has been in trouble with the law in the last month. On Dec. 31, Gil was fined hundreds of dollars when a Miami Shores police officer caught him speeding 35 mph over the limit on Biscayne Boulevard. Traffic county records indicate that he was riding a black Suzuki motorcycle and had the consulate license plate sealed purposefully.
Records show Gil still owes the city $537 in traffic fines— something he will have to pay as he fights his new case.
