Suspected thieves ram family car in Spresiano, pregnant woman gives birth in emergency

The crash on via Gasparotto Vecellio

Shortly before 18:30 on Saturday, 14 November, a family car was hit from behind on via Gasparotto Vecellio in Spresiano, a town in the province of Treviso in Veneto. According to ANSA and Open, the family car had stopped to make a left turn when a Nissan Qashqai struck it violently and pushed it into a roadside ditch. Tgcom24 and Fanpage describe the striking vehicle as an SUV driven at high speed along a secondary road by a group of thieves. Five people were in the family car: a man, a girl aged one, a woman eight months pregnant and a second woman three months pregnant. Tgcom24 reports that the car ended up on its roof, and that everyone except one man stayed trapped until firefighters and the 118 emergency service freed them.

Three hooded people flee on foot

Residents who heard the impact raised the alarm, and they told investigators they saw three hooded people get out of the Nissan and run off on foot. The vehicle the group had been using was a rental, and police found tools for breaking into property along with a mazzetta, a type of hammer, hidden inside it. Tgcom24 reports that the suspects abandoned the wrecked SUV and fled across the fields. Open and ANSA say the find leads investigators to favour the idea that a gang of thieves was operating in the area at the time. Police from the Polizia Stradale reached the scene straight after the crash and are still working to trace the people responsible. Tgcom24 adds that the SUV is registered to a company and has been seized, and that checks on it are continuing.

Condition of the women and the child

The woman eight months pregnant was taken to the Ca' Foncello hospital in Treviso in critical condition, where she was intubated and underwent an emergency delivery. ANSA and Open say that she and the newborn are both in the intensive care unit. Tgcom24 reports that mother and baby are in serious condition and describes the delivery as an emergency caesarean performed in the emergency room. The second pregnant woman, who is three months pregnant, suffered only a slight head injury according to ANSA. Open reports that the other passengers, including the one-year-old girl, suffered less serious consequences.

A separate crash in Marsala

Fanpage links the Spresiano crash to a second incident the same day, though the two are separate events. Around midday on Sunday, 15 November, a car ran a red light at a junction in Marsala in Sicily and struck a car carrying a young couple. The woman in the second car, who is four months pregnant, suffered bleeding facial wounds and other injuries. A witness stayed with her until 118 medics arrived and said the driver of the first car left without stopping to help. Police are trying to establish the identity of that driver.