Michael Antonelli accident, the trial begins for the organizers of the race in which the cyclist from San Marino was seriously injured
Almost 4 years after the accident that sent the young cyclist from San Marino in a vegetative state Michael Antonelli and 16 months after his death from Covid, the trial for the organizers of the ill-fated 2018 cycling race is about to begin.
Yesterday the news was spread that the first preliminary hearing in the Pistoia court was scheduled for 9 May.
The accident
It was August 15, 2018 and the young promise of cycling Michael Antonelli, 19 years old at the time, was participating in the 72nd edition of the Florence-Viareggio, a classic race for amateurs, a mountain on the Pistoia area. Along the descent of Monte Oppio just before the locality of Limestre, in the municipality of San Marcello Pistoiese, the corridor registered for the Mastromarco Sensi Nibali di Lamporecchio went off the road ending up in an escarpment. The crash was very violent: the boy ended up hospitalized in a reserved prognosis at the Careggi hospital in Florence, with a severe head injury, caused by a blow against a pole, various bruises and lung lacerations. Thanks to the care of the doctors and his temperament, she remained alive but never woke up again.
The death
Michael continued to struggle from the love of loved ones and the whole San Marino community until December 3, 2020 when Covid fatally compromised his respiratory system.
The process
After the boy’s death, investigations were reopened to shed light on the possible responsibilities of that tragic accident, prompted by the family who presented appraisals and documents. On the basis of the new investigations, the Prosecutor asked for the trial for the president of the organizing company of the 72nd Firenze-Mare and the race director, contesting him manslaughter. According to investigators, their fault is that of do not take the necessary precautions In the descent section of Monte Oppio, not providing adequate soft protections such as straw bales, without however signaling with means and above all personnel on site the danger represented by that section.
In recent days it has been fixed the first hearing preliminary in the court of Pistoia for 9 May, with the two defendants assisted and defended by the lawyer Nuri while Venturelli from Rome, were called to appear Luca AntonelliMichele’s father, and mother Marina Mularoniassistants by the lawyers Fausto Malucchi of Pistoia and by the lawyers Alberto and Fiorenzo Alessi of the Court of Rimini.