A young man who fled the scene of a minor road accident where no one was injured was so terrified of the consequences, that he killed himself when the police showed up at his house.
While driving home to the commune of Sant’Angelo in Vado in the central Italian region of Marche, Nicolas Matteucci reportedly caused a small accident at a roundabout near the town of Lunano involving one other car.
According to local media, the accident was minor and no one was injured, however, apparently under the impression that it was worse than it really was, the 21-year-old man panicked and fled the scene.
The female driver of the other vehicle said she was feeling fine after the accident and was able to memorise Matteucci’s licence plate before calling the police to report the crash.
With the licence plate details, the police were able to track down Matteucci to his mother’s house, the address they had on their system.
His mother told the police that Matteucci had recently moved to a farmhouse in Sant’Angelo in Vado and gave officers the details.
Meanwhile, she repeatedly tried to call her son to reassure him that the accident was non-fatal and the police only wanted to take a statement to help them reconstruct the events, however, her son did not pick up the phone.
The police went to his new address therefore without him being warned, and Matteucci answered the door and let officers inside. One cop called his mother because she was desperate to reassure him that no one was injured in the accident.
The police informed him that no one was hurt and pointed out that they only wanted help in reconstructing the events for their report.
However, the young man said he needed to get some papers from his room and went in, closed the door behind him, and sat on the bed.
He then allegedly shot himself with a gun while the police were waiting in the other room and his mother was still on the phone.
Local media said he owned the gun and had all the necessary permits for it.
It is believed the young man took his own life due to excessive fear over the consequences of his action. The investigation is ongoing.
