A few days after the end of his career, longtime professional cyclist Davide Rebellin was fatally injured in an accident with a truck. The Italian investigative authorities have now located the German driver. He is accused of killing the 51-year-old – and hit and run.
According to the Italian police, professional cyclist Davide Rebellin was run over and killed by a German truck driver. This was the result of the evaluation of surveillance videos at the crime scene, witness interviews and further investigations, as announced by the Vicenza public prosecutor. Accordingly, the 62-year-old man, who works for a forwarding company from North Rhine-Westphalia, was also found through cooperation with the German police.
Charges were brought against the driver of the articulated lorry, who according to prosecutors left the scene of the accident after the collision and returned to Germany. However, he could not be arrested in his home country because the Italian criminal offense of so-called killing on the road (“omicidio stradale”) does not exist in the same way in the Federal Republic, the media reported. In addition, the authorities are also investigating a hit-and-run after a road traffic fatality.
The 51-year-old rebel, who used to drive for the German elite racing team Gerolsteiner and ended his long professional career just a few weeks ago, was hit by the trailer truck at a roundabout on Wednesday morning. He died at the scene of the accident in the municipality of Montebello Vicentino.
The public prosecutor’s office has now published further details: As eyewitnesses reported, the German got out after the accident and approached the rebel lying on the street. But then he immediately got back into the driver’s cab of the semitrailer and drove away. He was photographed by passers-by – the Carabinieri were able to use these photos to locate the man.
It was also announced that the German long-distance driver had been convicted of hit and run in 2001 by a court in Foggia, southern Italy. In addition, in 2014 in Chieti in the central Italian region of Abruzzo, the police took away his driver’s license for drunk driving.