Personal injury or abuse of authority and coercive measures against an arrested person. These are the two hypotheses of crime being examined by the Foggia prosecutor who opened an investigation against the policeman who on April 2 hit him with a kick in the face Leonardo Di Francesco 24 years. The young man filmed in an amateur video, which went viral, was already pinned to the ground by another agent. He had been stopped after a three kilometer chase along the streets of Foggia. He was driving a family Fiat Punto, subject to administrative detention. He was also without a driving license because he never obtained it. The young man in the company of a friend did not stop at a roadblock.
Foggia, the boy kicked in the face by a policeman: “They beat me in two, even at the police station. I apologized and one said ‘I’ll kill you'”
by Tatiana Bellizzi and Chiara Spagnolo
After the long escape, arrived in the vicinity of the house, the steering wheels managed to block him. He was on the ground. Property. A policeman held him still with his knee on his back. Leonardo did not resist. Suddenly, as can be clearly seen from the video, the suspected policeman came from the back and kicked him.
The latter arrived in Foggia only a few months ago. He is part of the “Northern Calabria” crime prevention department and was one of the reinforcements sent by the minister Luciana Lamorgese to face the criminal escalation recorded at the beginning of the year. Upon hearing the news, the police station proceeded to remove him from the Foggia offices and send him back to the department of origin: Rende – Cosenza.
Now the investigators are also considering the position of a second agent who, as Di Francesco himself reports, “would have attacked and jerked me”. But at the moment the investigation file remains open only against one person.
Meanwhile, the 24-year-old is still in shock from what happened. “He continued to slap me even at the police station,” he said. “He did it in front of his other colleagues who told him to stop.” Leonardo was arrested (under house arrest) on charges of resisting a public official. The judge validated the detention by requiring him to sign. The trial will be held in direct mode on 12 April. “Now I’m also afraid to go and sign at the police station – he says – I’m afraid of any repercussions”. Then the appeal: “I made a mistake and I apologize. I want to tell all the boys not to make the same mistake as me”.