Florence, 24 November 2023 – Three of them, at more than 90 km/h, on a stolen large-engine motorbike, with the driver without a license and impaired by alcohol and cannabinoids.

The time has already come for the trial of the three North Africans (one of whom is a minor) who, aboard a stolen BMW, hurtling against traffic along Via Gioberti at breakneck speed, caused the death of Lorenzo Brogioni, the 43-year-old bookseller originally from Galluzzo who was taking that same road on board his Panda.

Thanks to a thorough investigation, conducted by the municipal police, with the help of the traffic police for some very particular findings, the third passenger of the vehicle was also identified and investigated: he is a Tunisian man aged just over 18 who, remaining unharmed after the terrible crash, he managed to escape.

Now, the prosecutor in charge of the investigation, prosecutor Gianni Tei, has already requested immediate judgment for the two adults. And a photocopy process was also started by the minors’ prosecutor’s office, responsible for the position of the 17-year-old who was in the position of “second” of the two passengers. Judge Federico Zampaoli sent the two adults to trial: the first hearing on February 13th. But in all likelihood, already in the next few days, the two adult defendants will ask to be tried under the abbreviated trial. “Harathi is aware of having made a very serious mistake and apologizes to the family”, declares the defender of the driver of the stolen motorbike, the lawyer Samuele Zucchini.

Road homicide, driving while intoxicated, injuries, theft, plus a string of traffic violations: these are the charges for which the two North Africans will have to answer, for various reasons, before the court.

The reconstruction. On the night between 16 and 17 October, the three apparently took possession of a BMW parked in the centre: they started it after forcing the ignition lock.

From that moment, a race would begin on the two-wheeled vehicle, not new but with an engine of 650 cubic centimeters of displacement.

The driver, according to what was reconstructed thanks also to the images from the cameras of the shops in the shopping street, was Mohamed Omor Omran Harathi, a 24-year-old Tunisian currently detained in Sollicciano for this reason. The man, of the same nationality as the passenger Ayoub Rezgi (who was just eighteen years old), would have taken via Gioberti from Piazza Beccaria, accelerating disproportionately. The speed reached was at least 90 kilometers per hour, a speed that would not have allowed him to stop the vehicle in time when, at the intersection with Via del Ghirlandaio, the motorbike found itself facing Brogioni and his Panda.

The small car, centered at the height of the driver’s side door, overturned and its driver died instantly. In the collision, the minor passenger (who was not wearing a helmet) also suffered serious injuries. From the toxicological investigations, it also emerged that, upon his arrival at the hospital, Harathi had a blood alcohol level of no less than 0.88 grams per liter, and also tested positive for taking cannabis.