The truck driver who hit and killed Rebellin was released from prison in Germany with the obligation to sign

Wolfgang Rieke, the lorry driver who on Thursday 16 June had been arrested by the German police in execution of the European arrest warrant (Mae) issued by the investigating judge of Vicenza, Nicolò Gianesini, at the request of the Vicenza prosecutor’s office for the death of Davide Rebellin on November 30, 2022: the crime for which he is under investigation is road homicide and hit and miss, and the prosecutor’s office has asked the German justice for extradition to Italy. Rieke is accused of having run over and killed Rebellin in the roundabout along regional road 11 in the direction of Montebello Vicentino: he was driving his Volvo articulated lorry when he hooked Rebellin, who was returning home from his training, and ran over him.

This afternoon Rieke was talking to his German lawyer in Munster prison, when the news of his immediate release and release arrived. The judge suspended the European arrest warrant pending a definitive ruling on the case. The crux is linked to the type of crime for which extradition was requested: vehicular homicide is not envisaged by the German penal code. Rieke was released on his signature every Friday by the police.

The accusations From the communication of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, after a complex investigative activity with the investigative unit of the Carabinieri of Vicenza, the dynamics of the accident had emerged, ascertained by the recordings of the surveillance cameras in the vicinity of the accident. The driver Rieke, after being hit, got out of his vehicle and approached Rebellin, then immediately afterwards got back on board the articulated lorry and went away: he was also photographed by those present. The Prosecutor specifies the causes of death (“very serious crushing trauma and visceral and haemorrhagic injuries”) and above all sheds light on the details of Rieke’s conduct which weigh down his position: “As of December 3, 2022, the engine of the vehicle was no longer connected the predominantly red colored trailer present at the time of the accident, but another different predominantly white colored trailer, and it emerged that the vehicle had been washed after the accident with a concentrated detergent, with a strong pickling reaction and a high acid reaction”. That is, he had tried to erase the traces of blood from the vehicle. In addition, the report carried out in Germany on 20 January 2023 by the Carabinieri revealed deformations in the plastic parts of the front bumper of the truck and in the spoiler compatible with the impact of the bicycle and the cyclist’s body.