A bottle of perfume taken from a shop, a violent shove to the manager in order to get away, and then a dash on foot toward the station. But police patrol cars were quickly on his trail, and within a short time the young man was tracked down and stopped. A man of Colombian nationality has now been arrested on charges of robbery through subsequent violence (rapina impropria).
The incident took place in the early afternoon of Wednesday, 12 August, in Rimini’s historic centre. It was around 3:30pm when the police headquarters’ operations centre received a call for help from a local business.
According to the account given by the State Police, the young man had entered the shop and taken a bottle of perfume, then attempted to leave. The store manager, however, apparently noticed what was happening.
At that point, in order to make his escape, the man is said to have shoved her hard. He then reportedly left the shop and quickly moved off in the direction of the train station.
A patrol from the General Prevention and Public Assistance Office responded to the scene. Officers gathered initial information along with a description of the young man. A search was launched immediately, involving patrol cars that happened to be in the area at the time.
Shortly afterward, a patrol spotted someone matching the description given by the shop manager. At that very moment, according to police headquarters, the young man allegedly pulled the perfume out of his trousers and tried to slip it into the basket of a nearby bicycle.
The move did not go unnoticed. Officers stopped him and recovered the item. Checks carried out immediately afterward confirmed that it was indeed the perfume taken shortly before from the shop.
The young man was then placed in the patrol car, searched, and taken to Rimini police headquarters to complete the investigation.
Checks in police databases, according to headquarters, reportedly turned up several prior offences for aggravated theft as well as convictions for specific crimes.
At the end of the proceedings, the young man was arrested for robbery through subsequent violence and will face a fast-track trial (rito direttissimo) scheduled for Thursday, 13 August.
As required by law, the presumption of innocence remains in place pending any final verdict.
