American tourist reportedly impaled on Rome's Colosseum fence as dozens watch in horror
The man — a 47-year-old American citizen living in Taiwan — was stabbed in the spine while attempting to climb over the historic monument's fence. He was possibly attempting to get a better view, according to Italian newspaper Il Messaggero.
Bystanders who saw the horrific event called for help as the tourist, stuck on the fence, screamed until he lost consciousness. Law enforcement and paramedics quickly arrived at the scene, but it took them more than 20 minutes to remove him from the fence, Il Messaggero reported.
Once freed, the tourist was immediately brought to the emergency room, where doctors performed surgery. The man's lower back wound was closed with more than 80 stitches, and he was hospitalized in serious condition, the outlet reported.
The unidentified man — who was unable to speak for hours after the incident — was on vacation with family and friends and had only been in Rome for a few days, Il Messaggero reported.
The horrifying incident took place less than a week after Pope Francis was laid to rest in Rome's Santa Maria Maggiore. The April 26 funeral ceremony at St. Peter's Basilica drew more than 250,000 mourners from across the globe to the country's capital, according to the Vatican.
Italy's Civil Protection Department and police force Polizia di Stato did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Miami Herald
19 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
New Miami U.S. Attorney sworn in by Attorney General Bondi in Washington
Former Miami-Dade County Judge Jason A. Reding Quiñones was sworn in Wednesday as the new U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. But the afternoon ceremony making his appointment by President Donald Trump official didn't happen in the district's home base, Miami, according to tradition. Nor was he sworn in by the district's chief judge, which has been customary for decades. Reding Quiñones was administered the oath of office by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi at the Justice Department in Washington — indicating that the nation's first top federal prosecutor confirmed by the Senate earlier this month will be an ardent loyalist as the Trump administration carries out its agenda against illegal immigrants, gangs and drug traffickers. 'I think it's unusual, if not rare — in the old days, the chief judge would swear in the U.S. Attorney,' said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond who carefully follows presidential nominations. 'I'm wondering how the judges in the Southern District will feel about this. It seems like an unnecessary affront to them.' Tobias said the symbolism of Reding Quiñones' being sworn in by Bondi, a former Florida Attorney General, is unmistakable, noting how she has aggressively led the Trump administration's confrontations with federal judges over immigration disputes, higher tariffs and government cutbacks. There has also been widespread speculation that Bondi might move a potential grand jury investigation from Washington to South Florida to look into the Obama administration's role in the FBI probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, which brought the Trump campaign under intense scrutiny. 'I wondered at first why he would be the first U.S. Attorney to be confirmed by the Senate; it didn't make sense,' Tobias said. 'But I now think it does make sense, making Florida first.' On Aug. 2, Reding Quiñones secured a 52-44 confirmation vote along party lines in the U.S. Senate — Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin was the only Democrat to vote for him. Reding Quiñones, 44, will now head the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of Florida, replacing interim U.S. Attorney Hayden O'Byrne, as he oversees about 250 prosecutors and support staff in one of the busiest districts in the country. READ MORE: Trump picks U.S. attorney in Miami. As criminal prosecutor, he received poor evaluations 'As the son of a Cuban political refugee and a proud Miami native, I am deeply honored by the trust and confidence that President Trump, Attorney General Bondi, and the United States Senate have placed in me,' Reding Quiñones said in a statement. 'As the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, I will work tirelessly to protect the American people, restore impartial justice, and defend the rule of law without fear or favor.' Several colleagues touted Reding Quiñones as the new U.S. Attorney, while others privately questioned whether his loyalties would be to Trump and Bondi or to the federal prosecutors in South Florida. 'I think it's very special that Judge Reding Quiñones was the first U.S. Attorney confirmed by U.S. Senate since President Trump was inaugurated,' said Coral Gables lawyer Jesus Suarez, chairman of the 11th Judicial Nominating Commission in Miami-Dade, which had recommended him as a county judge to Gov. Ron DeSantis. 'I'm confident he will bring the same kind of fearless respect for the rule of law we have seen from AG Pam Bondi and the rest of President Trump's DOJ,' he said. Jon Sale, a prominent white-collar defense attorney and the former First Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Florida, said: 'That AG Bondi performed the swearing in personally demonstrates that Jason is held in high esteem by the Department of Justice. 'As a result of the confidence shown by AG Bondi, the district will benefit from getting more high visibility cases,' he said. 'Jason's many years in public service, including his time on the bench and protecting our country in the military, show he is up for the challenges of this position and qualifies him to be an excellent U.S. Attorney.' Reding Quiñones, formerly a federal prosecutor in the Miami office, was appointed as a Miami-Dade County judge last year by Gov. DeSantis and is a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve. After graduating from Florida International University's law school in 2008, he began his career practicing corporate law and then did a stint as military lawyer for the U.S. Air Force before joining the Justice Department in Washington in 2018. Later that year, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami hired Reding Quiñones as a prosecutor in the major crimes section, the starting place for most newly hired assistants. During his four years in the major crimes section, which focuses on lower-level felony cases, Reding Quiñones received poor evaluations from supervisors who cited his incompetence, the Miami Herald learned. In turn, Reding Quiñones filed a complaint against the U.S. Attorney's Office, claiming it was discriminating against him as a white man whose temporary work as an Air Force reservist prevented him from performing at the same full-time level as other federal prosecutors in the major crimes section. Reding Quiñones then took an extended leave from the office in 2020-2021 to serve in the Air Force Reserve. When he returned to his prosecutor's job, Reding dropped his discrimination complaint and agreed to be reassigned to the civil division, which deals mostly with non-criminal prosecutions. In the civil division, Reding Quiñones received satisfactory job evaluations. READ MORE: Miami U.S. Attorney, first Haitian-American in post, to resign before Trump takes office
Buzz Feed
an hour ago
- Buzz Feed
Trump Voter Regrets Choice After Border Patrol Stop
A California man who alleges border patrol agents racially profiled him during a stop in June said in a story Monday that he feels guilty about voting for President Donald Trump in the last presidential election. 'I truly believe I was targeted because of my race,' Jason Brian Gavidia told NBC affiliate KNBC on Monday. 'I believe I was racially profiled. I believe I was attacked because I was walking while brown. Where is the freedom? Where is the justice? We live in America.' Gavidia is one of five people represented in a class action lawsuit by the ACLU of Southern California accusing the Trump administration of racially profiling people while conducting immigration enforcement activities. Last month, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to stop indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests in seven California counties. However, the administration petitioned the Supreme Court last week to lift the order. A video taken on June 12 and published by the Los Angeles Times days later shows two masked border patrol agents in sunglasses pushing Gavidia against a metal gated fence outside a tow yard. 'I am an American, bro,' Gavidia can be heard saying in the video. 'What hospital were you born in?' an agent yells. 'I don't know, dawg,' Gavidia responds, before offering to show his ID. The lawsuit alleges that border patrol agents twisted Gavidia's arm during the public questioning and took his phone. The border patrol agents eventually let Gavidia go, but he was left traumatized from the experience. 'Every time I see it on video, it's like a bad memory that's in my brain,' Gavidia told KNBC. Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin has issued a series of confusing statements regarding the incident. When reached for comment by the LA Times back in June, she claimed Gavidia had been 'arrested' for assaulting border patrol agents. When the Times noted that Gavidia had not been arrested, McLaughlin backtracked, clarifying he had only been questioned and it was actually his friend who was arrested. On Wednesday, McLaughlin sent another conflicting statement to HuffPost, claiming Gavidia 'was arrested for assaulting a law enforcement officer and interfering with agents during their duties.' HuffPost has reached out for additional clarification. McLaughlin's statement to HuffPost also asserted that 'any allegations that individuals have been 'targeted' by law enforcement because of their skin color are FALSE.' Gavidia is one of many Trump supporters who still got caught up in the president's ruthless immigration enforcement policies, despite voting for him in the last election. He told KNBC he now feels guilty about his vote in the last election and believes 'it was a mistake' because Trump 'ran on lies.'
CNBC
an hour ago
- CNBC
Trump's Washington, DC, crime crackdown exposes gap between perception and reality
President Donald Trump called Washington, D.C., a city overrun by "violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals" as he moved to federalize the city's police force and deploy hundreds of National Guard members. His dire depiction of the nation's capital is at odds, however, with federal data showing that violent crime in the District has dropped to its lowest level in three decades. "We are not experiencing a spike in crime," Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser said Sunday on MSNBC. "In fact, we're watching our crime numbers go down," Bowser said. Washington experienced a spike in crime in 2023, with the highest number of homicides reported in the District since the 1990s and a surge in the number of reported carjackings. But that trend has reversed since then, according to data from the Justice Department. As Trump's unprecedented use of presidential authority to activate the National Guard has reverberated through the city, Bowser called his characterizations of D.C. "hyperbolic" and "unsettling." But there is a perception among some residents that crime is still rising in the nation's capital, despite the data. A Washington Post poll last year found that a majority of Washingtonians, 65%, said that crime in D.C. is an "extremely serious" or a "very serious problem." Those rates were higher than poll results for 2023, despite the drop in crime recorded in 2024. Nationally, a YouGov poll conducted last month found that 34% of U.S. adults said that murder rates in U.S. cities have "increased a lot" since 1990. That perception is at odds with data showing that murders have fallen in most cities over the last several decades. Bowser suggested that the gap between perception and reality is a function of how crime makes people feel. "It doesn't matter if crime has gone down if you were a victim," Bowser said at a press conference after Trump's announcement. Jeff Asher, a crime data analyst and co-founder of data analytics firm AH Datalytics, told CNBC that Americans broadly "always think crime is rising," even if the data shows otherwise. There is a stark partisan divide over perceptions of crime, and Trump has long made claims of high crime in American cities to justify his tough-on-crime playbook. His rhetoric — painting racially diverse, Democratic-led cities as crime-ridden — also taps into longstanding efforts to mobilize voters in suburban areas. A majority of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters — 68% — said that reducing crime should be a top policy priority for the president and Congress in 2024, compared to 47% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters, according to the Pew Research Center. Asher told CNBC that policymakers should not "base their crime-reduction strategies and policy and programs on the perception issue." He said that policy decisions should be based on data, but to make "people feel safe, we have to address the perception issue." "I think that they're two very different sides of a similar coin," he continued. Asher said that even as crime rates in the District decline — undercutting Trump's arguments — "at the same time, you can make a very valid argument that things are too high, that we should be trying to see fewer murders and the D.C. murder rate relative to other large cities remains elevated." "There's no reason to feel comfortable with these declines, necessarily, as permanent successes, given how far the city still has to go, and that's true of a lot of American cities," he said.
