The Florence prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into the death of Mattia Giani for manslaughter, with no suspects at the moment. Prosecutor Giuseppe Ledda, who coordinates the investigations, ordered an autopsy on the 26-year-old footballer, who died last Sunday after a cardiac arrest on the Castelfiorentino pitch, in the Tuscan Eccellenza championship. The investigation started after the complaint to the police by the footballer’s father, Sandro Giani, who had attended the match between Castelfiorentino and Lancillotto with other family members.
As he also told Corriere della Sera, Sandro Giani saw his son feel ill on the pitch just 15 minutes into the match, and then collapsed to the ground. The man said that the doctor and ambulance were missing on the sidelines. Help arrived at least eight minutes after the illness with a first ambulance, but only on the second one that arrived a quarter of an hour after the illness was there a doctor capable of using the defibrillator. «The team masseur did the cardiac massage on my son – explained Sandri Giani – someone brought the defibrillator, but no one knew how to use it. Nobody knew which buttons to push. A first ambulance arrived but there was no doctor on board. When he arrived, a lot of time had passed.”
The FIGC regulation requires the presence of a doctor or an ambulance with medical personnel for the Excellence championship. The club in which Giani played, the Corriere della Sera reported, denied the doctor’s absence. The 26-year-old would have been in compliance with the sporting eligibility to be able to play, as his father confirms: «he was in perfect health». Now the autopsy could clarify whether the footballer could have been saved and how much the delay with which he was rescued could have affected him.
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Tags: investigation manslaughter death Mattia Giani autopsy footballer died pitch awaited perfect health
