A dismissal order has put an end to the charges against the five police officers of Avellino and Foggia, accused of manslaughter in the death of a 31-year-old robber from Molfetta. The judge for preliminary investigations of the Avellino court has decided to dismiss the case, which had been opened following the firefight and the death of the robber.
The five officers involved had been registered as suspects for the operation conducted in October 2022 in Cesinali, where they intervened to block an armed commando from Chieti, ready to attack an armored van on the Avellino-Salerno link road. Among the suspects, there were two officers from the Flying Squad of the Avellino police headquarters and three from the Flying Squad of the Foggia police headquarters. The registration in the register of suspects was a formal act to clarify the events that occurred in Villa San Nicola, where Giovanni Rinaldi, a 31-year-old from Molfetta, was found dead with a balaclava over his face. The investigations conducted by the public prosecutor Vincenzo Toscano aimed to clarify the behavior of the police forces, who, according to the Avellino police chief at the time, Maurizio Terrazzi, had responded to the commando’s fire in self-defense.
The Mobile Squad of the Chieti police headquarters had informed the police headquarters of Foggia and Avellino about two cars and a van, stolen a few days earlier and used by the gang to prepare the robbery on the Avellino-Salerno motorway link. During the chase, the robbers had managed to lose the police several times, but the encirclement plan organized by the Avellino police headquarters had forced them into a trap near the Cesinali cemetery. A car of the commando had stopped at a roadblock and then forced the barrier, starting a firefight. Three of the criminals were arrested, while a fourth was captured the following day while trying to escape on a bus in Santo Stefano del Sole.
