There is a turning point in the case of Elena Russo’s tragic death, the 20-year-old girl who lost her life in a road accident on the evening of January 30, 2022, while she was traveling through the streets of Reggiano (in Saint Bartholomew of Reggio Emilia) for deliver pizzas for the company she had been hired by, just a month earlier.
Elena Russo and her death in the car accident: there will be a trial
The judge for preliminary investigations, Andrea Rat, ordered the Prosecutor’s Office to formulate the forced charge of manslaughter against the two legal representatives of the pizzeria: the hypothesis is that Elena Russo died in an accident at work caused, as a contributing cause, by the inadequate condition of the tires of the car, a Fiat Punto, in which she was travelling.
The clash between appraisals and consultants: «Old car tires»
«We opposed the request for dismissal of September 2022 on the strength of an expert report drawn up by the engineer Santo Cavallo, which demonstrated how the car circulated with old tyres on each axis, one even going back 16 years earlier – explains the lawyer of Elena Russo’s parents, Simona Magnani -. The report also found the presence of a man in the car pizza warming oven not well welded and a malfunction of the power steering, but the element linked to the condition of the tires certainly appeared decisive. We are satisfied that the judge accepted the hypothesis of co-responsibility, considering the tragedy as an accident at work. Now the process opens and we are certain that we can demonstrate our theses to offer justice to Elena’s parents.”
The dream of becoming a magistrate and the courtroom entitled
The University of Modena and Reggio Emilia that she attended named a classroom after Elena Russo with a plate in the Law department that bears his name: it was the first time that Unimore had titled a space to one of his students. She was enrolled in the second year of law school which is based in Modena. «This plaque wants to be memory than anyone can recognize themselves in her student», said the director of the department, Professor Carmelo Elio Tavilla, during the ceremony naming the classroom. Elena’s father told how his daughter wanted her become a magistrate since she was very young and how she had been enthusiastic about meeting the magistrate during high school Nicola Gratteri.
