It could have ended differently but a city sanitation worker, an Arab resident of the eastern capital, found the handgun of a policewoman in a bathroom stall in a city café. He turned the weapon to the café’s owner.

The policewoman entered a branch of Café Hillel, entering a bathroom stall and un-holstering her sidearm, then placing it on a windowsill. She left but forgot the handgun. The sanitation worker was the next person to enter, seeing the gun, the city employee went to the café manager to report his find.

They phoned the ‘100’ police emergency number, described the weapon, leading the dispatcher to understand it was a department-issued sidearm. A patrol car arrived to take the handgun. Before the patrol could leave, the somewhat agitated policewoman arrived, now realizing her blunder. The unit took her information and kept her sidearm. She is now facing a disciplinary hearing.

A senior Jerusalem officer arrived on the scene the following day to obtain statements from the parties involved.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)