Investigation ongoing for accidental homicide after Samuele Fuschi’s 47-meter fall in Palermo

Last Updated: May 18, 2024

Palermo, Samuele Fuschi ha fatto un volo di 47 metri: la Procura indaga per omicidio colposo

The Palermo Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation for manslaughter, at the moment against unknown persons, for the death of 38-year-old Samuele Fuschi, victim of the accident on Thursday afternoon on Viale Regione Siciliana, between Bonagia and Via Oreto, heading towards Catania. The right lane has been seized for about a hundred meters at the site where the tragedy occurred. Before dying, the motorcyclist, riding his Honda Sh 300, flew 47 meters. This is the distance between the impact zone, where the killer hole is, and the body of the thirty-eight-year-old.

In these first 48 hours of the investigation, there are still many unanswered questions but also a certainty: a depression in the road he was traveling on also played a role in Fuschi’s sad fate. This was also confirmed by the Municipal Police Accident Investigation, which carried out the surveys. However, it has emerged since yesterday that there will be a sort of “parallel investigation” to understand technically why this hole was created and if there is a looming danger on the rest of the roadway. According to the municipal police command technicians, who inspected the area around the cavity that opened on the road, the danger would exist: “The hole on Viale Regione Siciliana – they claim – shows that the asphalt resurfacing works were not done properly. The sand and everything needed as a base for the asphalt is missing. From the hole, it is evident that there is nothing underneath. It needs to be understood how all this was possible. And in any case, everything will be reported to the Prosecutor’s Office.” “From a first cursory inspection – reveals the commander of the municipal police, Angelo Colucciello – we have been able to note that there is nothing under the road surface. It’s all empty. This is another sad reality, unfortunately. It confirms that the works on that road section were not done properly, as had emerged from the initial evidence.”

On the fatal accident, there will still be much to understand. The experts appointed by Deputy Prosecutor Ennio Petrigni and Deputy Ludovica D’Alessio will be called upon to ascertain whether the death was due to road conditions or a series of contributory factors, such as speed and whether the motorcyclist was wearing a helmet or not, which would have been found strapped on dozens of meters from the accident. The discovery of Fuschi’s body, at a huge distance from the vehicle, leaves room for the hypothesis that high speed may have played a role. In the same way, it is believed that the helmet could not have come off the rider’s head precisely because it was found strapped and intact.

Meanwhile, the body of the thirty-eight-year-old has been returned to the family: the Prosecutor’s Office decided to carry out only a post-mortem inspection and a CT scan of the head at the Legal Medicine Institute of the Policlinico. No autopsy, therefore, also because the reasons for death were immediately apparent and clear compared to the accident reconstruction and the type of injuries sustained.

Also confirmed are the series of irregularities that emerged initially: the motorcycle was uninsured, had not been inspected, and had also undergone an administrative seizure and could not circulate on the road. Yesterday, another detail was added, confirmed by the municipal police command: the victim only had an A license and therefore could not have driven a motorcycle over 150 cubic centimeters in displacement. These factors do not detract from the issue of the dilapidated roads of a collapsing city, as evidenced by the campaigns of the Sicilia Journal with a series of reports on roads and squares reduced to pitiful conditions.

What happened has also triggered a sort of psychosis among citizens, evidently marked by this latest tragedy punctuated by the probable fatality of inadequate and unsafe road conditions. Throughout the day yesterday, dozens and dozens of reports were made to the municipal police command for the presence of potholes and depressions in the streets: “In less than 12 hours, we counted over 60 reports – clarifies Colucciello -. We also sent 8 patrols simultaneously to guard the holes that had been indicated to us.”