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news
Laptop keyboard (licensed CC BY-2.0 on Flickr by Quentin Meulepas)Internet troll who wrote “Run over one cyclist to educate 100” cleared by judge
An internet troll in Italy who responded to a post on Facebook about Ineos Grenadiers rider Dani Martinez getting punched by a driver by writing “Run over one cyclist to educate 100” has been cleared by a judge who ruled that no crime had been committed.
Marco Cavorso, safety manager of the Italian professional cyclists’ union the ACCPI, described the ruling as a “slap in the face” for cyclists in a statement released via the organisation, which said it demonstrated that “inciting violence against cyclists isn’t a crime.”
It was Cavorso himself, whose 13-year-old son Tomasso was killed by a driver while out riding his bike, who reported the social media post to the relevant authorities following the March 2018 incident in Tuscany that left then EF Education First rider Martinez in hospital after a driver punched the Colombian who had remonstrated with him about a close pass.
The social media commentator was investigated for incitement to commit a crime, aggravated by transmission by electronic means, but a court in Pistoia has acquitted the defendant after a judge in Pistoia ruled that the facts of the case did not constitute a crime.
Reacting to the judgment, Cavorso said: “The outcome of the hearing against one of many people who hare cyclists is yet another slap in the face for us, but it won’t stop us – we owe it to my son Tommaso and to all those boys and girls who will stay young forever.”
The ACCPI is currently campaigning for a minimum safe passing distance of 1.5 metres to be put in place in Italy, and while Cavorso acknowledged that it would “not be the panacea for all ills given how deeply rooted verbal and physical violence is in our society,” it would “be the first step towards recognising that weak road users have a right to their vital space.”
In a statement on its website, the ACCPI highlighted the death toll on Italy’s roads, saying that “every day children and adults, men and women, students and workers, rich and poor, champions and ordinary people continue to die, with no distinction between them, because road violence shows no signs of stopping, and verbal violence towards vulnerable road users instead of being punished is considered acceptable.”
The definitive sentence in the case will be filed within 90 days, with both Cavorso and the ACCPI having 135 days to appeal the ruling, which they intend to do.
The professional cyclists’ organisation also highlighted that the court case comes at a time when the lorry driver who fled the scene of the crash on 30 November in which recently-retired pro cyclist Davide Rebellin was killed is still at liberty.
Prosecutors in Vicenza are still waiting to issue a European arrest warrant for the driver, Wolfgang Rieke, who returned to his home country of Germany immediately after the fatal crash.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, the delay in issuing the arrest warrant, and delay also in performing an autopsy on Rebellin to exclude, for example, the possibility that he may have been taken ill immediately prior to the fatal crash, is to avoid any irregularity in the process that might subsequently be seized upon by the defence.
The newspaper added that the autopsy is due to take place in Vicenza next Monday 19 December, with the funeral held on Wednesday 21 or, more likely, Thursday 22 December.
“You can kill a cyclist, flee abroad driving your lorry and continue to live as though nothing happened,” said the ACCPI, “while the person you killed is still waiting for their autopsy and his devastated family has not yet been able to arrange his funeral.”
Insisting that Italy’s roads “continue to represent a minefield for cyclists,” the ACCPI is inviting people to participate in an initiative this Sunday to highlight the danger people on bikes face on the roads.
“In memory of Davide Rebellin and to continue to ask for respect and safety for cyclists, we are inviting everyone that day to ride with a black armband and to post messages on social media with the hashtag #unmetroemezzodivita and tagging @accpi,” said the organisation’s president, Cristian Salvato.
“We will gladly share your messages because we need to respond to death and violence with all our will to live, the joy of pedalling and the respect that every human life deserves, even that of those who insult us and do not realise that when they are at the wheel it is as though they had a loaded pistol in their hand,” he added.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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34 comments
this story reminded me of a time I was turning right from a major road to a minor road and indictated with my arm and cycled out into the middle of the road and stopped to give oncoming traffic priority. As you would if in a car. A driver in a mini behind me started hooting because she couldn't get past. OK, whatever. I just looked at her but didn't gesticulate or react. But then a pedestrian on the opposite pavement started shouting very loudly 'run him over, run him over'. - wtf has it got to do with you Mr Pedestrian? I had executed a text book manoeuvre and I get abused by motorists and pedestrians alike. I really felt persecuted.
Major to minor RH turns where you have to wait always put the wind up me.
My whole back tenses up half expecting a toot or a squeeze past, or god forbid a hit at speed.
Overtaking just as your about to take a right turn happens far too often. They'd never dream of doing that to a car driver, as they'd put their own safety at risk. Makes me so angry when it happens. Risking my life to save a few seconds.
But did you "run him over"? And if so, which one?
Italy, where they let off a husband murderer because they feel sorry for her because she's a widow. So glad to hear that this decision will be appealed.
When is this excellent troll coming to road.cc - assuming they're not already here?
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You got it - we're here now.
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Be afraid. Be very afraid.
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Taraa.
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LAAAAAAY Bah Flinty.
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Run over one stinkin' little Fiat Panda with my Ineos Grenadier and teach 100 a lesson.
Humor. It's humor. OK. Violence is not a good solution no matter how much behavior like this might make all cyclists want to punch back.
A humorous situation would be a hypothetical one that doesn't actually happen. Cyclists do get run over all the time, so it's not at all humorous.
I think violence is often under-appreciated - just think how much better the world would be if we could punch someone through the internet.
Who's advocated violence? The only violence mentioned above or below the line is the driver who punched a cyclist.
Just bantz? In which case we can balance that with Matthew Paris, Rod Lidl so that's all OK, yeah? Just funny funny jokes.
On balance I think I'd rather have the insults - by all - out in the open. Rot grows and pus festers out of sight.
HOWEVER... Trump was right! What you repeatedly see and hear IS the TRUTH. FACT! Or at least it's going to have some effect on your attitude. And you probably didn't even notice.
Now I be woke I'm seeing a lot of "jokes" concerning people driving badly and/or causing harm to others on the road. I'm not seeing the reverse. So "one way traffic" you might say. Less joke, more "propaganda". (Or is it just a reflection of a car-sick society?) I'm not sure the best way to counter that but I think it does have an effect.
Carsick View Road. Just don't look in that grit bin.
Looks Carsick indeed, suburban sprawl / City edge villages swallowed. Some paths that you could maybe use for cycling to the south but otherwise... 🤢🤮
Having said that if you want to get out into the Peaks for the bolder rider it looks well- positioned - small roads a-plenty!
Younger me would be off to Stanage all the time!
Anyone recall the poster on RoadCC a while back who repeatedly advocated dropping concrete blocks onto random cars from a motorway bridge as some sort of restorative retaliation for cyclist deaths caused by drivers?
Didn't get much support here. It's very much in the same vein of threat. Probably got banned or left under a cloud of disapproval but I'm not sure that vile social media tweets need the full force of the legal system every time someone is offensive or wrong. Slippery slope on the free speech front and all that.
I couldn't remember either but was reminded - left of their own free after moving to a better place (NL or Scandinavia).
I think the much less stressful environment should have calmed them down.
I'm not sure that vile social media tweets need the full force of the legal system every time someone is offensive or wrong
True! The correct response to nutters is to shun them, on here as elsewhere
There are many similarities between drivers and judges in Italy and the UK
Replace 'cyclist' with 'member of the judiciary' for a very different ruling.
What lesson are cyclists supposed to be learning from that?
So, if we started saying, "Slash the tyres and smash the windows of one pavement parker, pour encourager les autres" then that would be fine, would it?
You're comparing apples to oranges there.
They're threatening physical harm to cyclists based on nothing but hate i.e. not in response to any wrong-doing by the cyclists. Your idea is simply damaging private property in response to individuals abusing public property and possibly endangering people. If pavement parkers object to having their property damaged then they could just park on the road instead, but I don't know how cyclists could do anything except not cycle to avoid the implied violence.
I guess so, Peter.
I'd still like to know exactly what lesson the unnamed internet troll thought he would be teaching, though...
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You're too late, Bud.
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See comments on Bristol wands article.
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Tyre-slashing is being discussed there.
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Best, Flinty.
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Is there a scientific name for whatever FSB is suffering from? FSB syndrome? FSB disease? FSB disorder?
I think the medical term is 'horrendum galli'.
So he is a Russian bot then......
I don't think we will ever win the Eurovision song contest again. Even Sir Cliff couldn't win it and he's quite good isn't he? Walking on sunshine ooh ooh was good I quite liked that one I'm not sure if it was one of ours
Katsina and the Waves won Eurovision for the UK, but not with Walking on Sunshine. She's not actually British, but it's the 'song' contest, not the 'singer' contest. We came second last year, and might have won but for the understandable Ukraine sympathy vote. I realise you probably know all this...
It's about time that cycling was made into the equivalent of a protected characteristic as there are way too many deaths and people "joking" about hurting cyclists. I'm positive that the internet hate spills out into the real world, so drivers respond with anger when one of those derised cyclists dares to criticise the quality of driving.
If judges were routinely killed with people then joking about it, I bet we'd soon see people being prosectued for it.
Personally I think we need to get rid of the whole concept of 'unprotected characteristics'.
I'm not saying there aren't groups that are more victimised than others, but it shouldn't be down to MPs to decide who is what.
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