Italy Cop Arrested For Slaying Teen
NAPLES, Italy (AP) - A state police officer was arrested Monday, four days after he shot and killed a teen-age scooter driver who ran a police checkpoint to avoid getting a ticket for not wearing a helmet.
Officer Tommaso Leone was taken into custody on suspicion of homicide, the Naples prosecutor's office said. Leone, who has said the shooting was an accident, was being held without bail in a military prison.
Leone is accused of killing 17-year-old Mario Castellano, who ran a police checkpoint set up to enforce a new law mandating helmets for Italy's 9 million scooter and motorcycle riders.
Castellano ran the checkpoint because he wasn't wearing a helmet and didn't want to be ticketed, as he had been repeatedly before the shooting for flouting the new helmet law. The teen-ager reportedly loathed helmets because they flattened his gel-held hairdo.
His killing provoked scattered riots, calls to boycott helmets and several vigils.
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Robert Basil
It ain't easy being green - Kermit the frog
But it sure is fun! - Robert Basil
NAPLES, Italy (AP) - A state police officer was arrested Monday, four days after he shot and killed a teen-age scooter driver who ran a police checkpoint to avoid getting a ticket for not wearing a helmet.
Officer Tommaso Leone was taken into custody on suspicion of homicide, the Naples prosecutor's office said. Leone, who has said the shooting was an accident, was being held without bail in a military prison.
Leone is accused of killing 17-year-old Mario Castellano, who ran a police checkpoint set up to enforce a new law mandating helmets for Italy's 9 million scooter and motorcycle riders.
Castellano ran the checkpoint because he wasn't wearing a helmet and didn't want to be ticketed, as he had been repeatedly before the shooting for flouting the new helmet law. The teen-ager reportedly loathed helmets because they flattened his gel-held hairdo.
His killing provoked scattered riots, calls to boycott helmets and several vigils.
------------------
Robert Basil
It ain't easy being green - Kermit the frog
But it sure is fun! - Robert Basil