Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash

Newsflash/@antonio.blasioli.10

This is the moment a policeman tries to chastise a jogger on the beach during COVID-19 lockdown before the man starts sprinting and out-runs the panting cop as onlookers giggle.

The incident was filmed on a beach in the coastal city of Pescara in the eastern Italian region of Abruzos, and the jogger was promptly caught by other officers on the road and fined 400 EUR (350 GBP) for his unlawful run.

In the footage, filmed by a giggling onlooker, the jogger is seen running along the shoreline as a uniformed cop crosses the sand to speak to him.

The officer appears to talk to the man as he jogs alongside him on the shore, but the runner starts sprinting and he leaves the cop in his wake.

The jogger is last seen running towards the road as the dejected cop slowly walks across the sand.

The jogger, identified as Mario Ferri, who is known in Italy for running onto football pitches, told local media: “I have been locked up at home for a month. I felt like stretching my legs and decided to run by the sea.

“At one point, I saw a drone following me and I thought it was a hobbyist until I noticed someone’s shadow right behind me.

“I had earphones in and was in my own world, I felt quite scared so I started to run.”

Ferri said that after the video finishes, he jumped over a fence on the Piazza Salotto and ran another kilometre before being stopped by officers in the city centre.

He was reportedly fined 400 EUR (350 GBP) which could be reduced to 280 EUR (245 GBP) for paying in the first days of issue.

Ferri also apologised for breaking the rules of the lockdown.

According to the latest figures from the Johns Hopkins University, Italy has registered 156,363 cases of COVID-19 with 19,899 related deaths.

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