SUV driver turns himself in after fatal hit-and-run kills 17-year-old in Versilia
Luigi Giordano, 27, was arrested on charges of vehicular homicide and failure to render assistance after his Range Rover struck a scooter, killing 17-year-old Gabriele Martini and injuring his passenger.
The collision
A fatal crash took place in the early hours of Saturday 20 June on the seafront between Forte dei Marmi and Marina di Pietrasanta, in Versilia. Gabriele Martini, 17, was riding as a passenger on a scooter with a friend of the same age, returning home after an evening out. As they travelled along the lungomare, a Range Rover performing a U-turn to leave a parking area collided with them. The impact was violent; Martini died at the scene. The other boy was airlifted by the Pegaso helicopter to Cisanello hospital in Pisa, where his condition is described as stable.
The SUV, a rented vehicle with Swiss plates from Canton Ticino, was abandoned at the crash site. The driver and two female passengers left on foot without calling for help or rendering assistance.
Flight and surrender
Surveillance camera footage and witness accounts quickly led investigators to identify the driver. By Saturday afternoon, Luigi Giordano approached a police patrol conducting extraordinary checks in Forte dei Marmi and identified himself.
I'm the one from the SUV this morning.
He was taken into custody by the Carabinieri and later arrested by order of the Lucca Public Prosecutor's Office.
The victims
Gabriele Martini, known as "Gabbo", was a resident of Viareggio. The friend riding the scooter with him, also 17, suffered multiple traumas but is not in life-threatening condition, according to hospital sources.
Investigation and charges
Giordano faces three charges: vehicular homicide, grievous bodily harm, and failure to render assistance. After his arrest, he was subjected to toxicological and alcohol tests, both of which came back negative.
The two women who were in the car with him, a 30-year-old from Foggia (reported as his girlfriend) and a 29-year-old from Piacenza, both living in the Milan area, were also identified. They have been reported at large for omission of soccorso.
- SUV and scooter collide during a U-turn on the lungomare; Gabriele Martini, 17, dies at the scene, his friend is hospitalised.
- Driver Luigi Giordano voluntarily turns himself in to a police patrol in Forte dei Marmi.
- Giordano arrested for vehicular homicide, grievous bodily harm, and failure to render assistance; toxicology and alcohol tests return negative; two female companions reported.
Pietrasanta mayor Alberto Giovannetti had earlier appealed publicly for those who fled to come forward.
The people involved in the accident who left the scene should turn themselves in.
The investigation continues, with Carabinieri interviewing staff from the Twiga nightclub, where the three had spent the evening before the crash.
