In the morning of November 11, 2007 26-year old Lazio fan Gabriele Sandri, a DJ from Rome, was killed by a shot in his neck while sitting inside a car, by a policeman, after some other fans of Lazio violently assaulted with stones a group of Juventus ultras on the A1 Motorway service station of Badia al Pino in Arezzo. Early reports suggested that a stray bullet from a gun, set to distract the group of ultras, hit the Lazio fan in the neck as he sat in a car and killed him. An emergency meeting set up between Lega Calcio president Antonio Matarrese and police chief Antonio Manganelli decided that the game between Inter and Lazio would be called off, but the rest of the fixtures would go ahead that day, starting at a slightly later time (about 10 minutes later). The Atalanta–Milan game was eventually suspended following unrest caused by local ultras attempting to break off the protection glass in order to invade the pitch and stop the match. Later in the afternoon, the Italian Football Federation chose to postpone also the game between AS Roma and Cagliari, whose kick off was scheduled for 8.30 pm at Stadio Olimpico, Rome. However, this did not prevent violent riots, as hundreds of armed hooligans attacked a police barracks and the CONI (Italian Olympic National Committee) headquarters in Rome. Though Sandri's death was later held by some to have been caused by a tragic error by a policeman who claimed his gun went off as he was running and prosecutors then opted initially to open an inquiry into manslaughter against the policeman, nevertheless the initial hearing held that Sandri's death was culpable homicide and the policeman involved (Luigi Spaccarotella) was condemned to 6 years imprisonment. On appeal, the higher court not only confirmed this judgment, but increased the punishment to 9 years and 4 months as an element of intentionality was found.
