ROME —Davide Rebellin, According to authorities in both countries, police in Germany detained a truck driver accused of being involved in the collision that killed professional cyclist Davide Rebellin in Italy last year and was keeping him pending extradition proceedings.
Wolfgang Rieke is charged with fleeing the accident scene and vehicular murder. According to Vicenza prosecutor Lino Giorgio Bruno, he was detained on a European arrest warrant on Thursday in Muenster. He had surrendered, according to German authorities.
One of the most experienced cyclists, Rebellion, was slain on November 30 while out for a training run close to the northern Italian town of Montebello Vicentino. The truck that hit him, according to Italian media at the time, had not stopped. However, according to the prosecution, the driver pulled over, got out of the cab, and approached Rebellin before getting back into the truck and driving away, as shown on roadside video and witness images.
According to the investigation, the truck belonged to a shipping company with its headquarters in Recke, Germany, and the driver was identified as Rieke, Bruno said in a statement. After the collision, the truck went to Verona, where it arrived on December 3. Prosecutors claimed that after that, the red trailer allegedly responsible for the collision was separated from the tractor and replaced with a white trailer with a different set of license plates.
Germany detained a truck driver accused of being involved in the collision that killed professional cyclist Davide Rebellin.
Experts discovered collision-related damage after the authorities seized the truck, and they found that a concentrated, very acidic detergent had been used to clean it, according to the prosecution. The statement said there were working video cameras and mirrors inside the cab that would have provided the driver with the requisite direct and indirect views of the bicycle.
Rebellin was judged to have broken the law by failing to give way to the truck, but given the amount of time that had passed between Rebellin’s transgressions and the collision, the statement cited the judge’s arrest order and claimed that “such a violation had no causal effect” on the collision.
Senior public prosecutor Elmar Pleus of the Hamm prosecutor general’s office informed the German news agency dpa via email that the suspect turned himself in to police on Thursday in Steinfurt, close to Muenster, together with his defense attorney.
According to a detention order issued by the Rheine, Germany, court, he is presently being kept in extradition custody, according to Pleus. Pleus stated that Hamm prosecutors were preparing a decision regarding Italy’s extradition request, but he did not specify when it may be made.
Rebellin was judged to have broken the law by failing to give way to the truck.
The name and phone number of Rieke’s attorney were requested via emails and phone calls to Meunster police, but no responses were received right away.
Before the accident, Rebellin had just announced his retirement from professional cycling after a 30-year career with his last team, Work Service-Vitalcare-Dynatek. Rebellin’s accomplishments included stage wins in the 1996 Giro d’Italia, which he also led for six stages, and triumphs in Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico.
Rebellin was second in the road race at the 2008 Olympic Games; however, after a positive doping test, his medal was taken away, and he was given a two-year suspension. His denial of wrongdoing.
SOURCE – (AP)
