A court in Ascoli Piceno has acquitted a 25-year-old Gambian national who bit off a female police officer’s finger during a frenzied attack at the San Benedetto del Tronto police station last February, ruling that he was not criminally responsible due to mental incompetence.

The decision, which sends the man to a REMS psychiatric facility rather than to trial, has triggered strong criticism from the SIULP, the Italian Union of Police Workers.

As reported by La Nuova Riviera, the man had been stopped for travelling on a train without a ticket and brought to the police station, where he lunged unexpectedly at three officers. One officer suffered a permanent injury requiring surgery after the man bit off part of her finger, while others suffered minor injuries and bruising.

Despite the seriousness of the assault, the court found him incapable of understanding or controlling his actions at the time.

In a statement following Tuesday’s judgment, SIULP Secretary General Felice Romano challenged both the ruling and the evaluation that led to it. “The Ascoli Piceno court has acquitted the 25-year-old Gambian man who bit off a female police officer’s finger last February. He was acquitted due to mental incompetence,” he said.

Romano noted that previous proceedings involving the same individual had shown no indication of mental illness. “A sort of mental incompetence that seems to arise on command and always to the detriment of those who represent the State,” he added.

Romano also linked the ruling to what he described as a wider judicial trend that undermines law enforcement. He cited a recent judgment classifying the biting of a security guard as a minor offense. “These are laws completely divorced from reality,” he said. “Let’s decide what context we want to operate in. Because this ruling that exonerates a man who bit off a woman’s finger comes just days after another damaging ruling.”

The union also raised concerns over the expert assessment that formed the basis of the acquittal. Romano questioned whether the evaluation was conducted properly, noting that the defendant had admitted to drug and alcohol addictions but had not previously been found to suffer from any mental disorder.

“The credibility of the State and, consequently, of those who represent it is slowly crumbling,” Romano warned. “What we want is real protection with clear rules that must be passed by parliament to protect those who risk their lives every day to defend the security and democracy of our country.”

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