Flowers, candles and notes were left at the wall of Area 1 at Aviano Air Base, Italy, where Vanessa Rita Russo, an 18-year-old senior at Aviano High School, was killed in an automobile accident last year. A U.S. airman tried in Italian courts in the accident served a short time in jail and paid a fine, Italian authorities said this week. (Kent Harris / S&S)
Flowers, candles and notes were left at the wall of Area 1 at Aviano Air Base, Italy, where Vanessa Rita Russo, an 18-year-old senior at Aviano High School, was killed in an automobile accident last year. A U.S. airman tried in Italian courts in the accident served a short time in jail and paid a fine, Italian authorities said this week. (Kent Harris / S&S)
An Italian friend left a message for Vanessa Rita Russo at the scene of the automobile accident that claimed her life. (Kent Harris / S&S)
AVIANO, Italy — An airman assigned to the 31st Civil Engineer Squadron served less than a month in jail and paid a fine of about 860 euros for his role in the death of a high school senior in January 2007.
Ryan Michael Hayden, 23, was driving with a blood alcohol content three times the legal limit in Italy and traveling at about three times the posted speed limit, according to an investigation by the carabinieri in Aviano.
A back-seat passenger, Vanessa Russo, an 18-year-old high school senior on base, was killed in the single-vehicle accident. Hayden and two other airmen riding in the gray BMW were injured.
Hayden never appeared in court and in February this year agreed to plead guilty through his Italian attorney to negligent homicide and driving under the influence, according to Giorgio Ferracin, commander of the carabinieri detachment in Aviano. He served 27 days in jail and paid a fine of about 860 euros for the DUI offense, Ferracin said.
But Hayden’s one-year sentence for negligent homicide was suspended, partly because it was his first offense and partly because most of those who receive such sentences in Italy never serve time due to a space crunch in the country’s prison system.
Ferracin said the United States requested jurisdiction after Hayden was initially charged, but Italy declined that request because Russo was an Italian national. He said the two other passengers, Travis Gonder and Ryan Adam Larson, had the right to file claims with the carabinieri in the three months following the crash but didn’t do so.
Capt. Jennifer Ferrau, 31st Fighter Wing spokeswoman, said she couldn’t provide updated information on the airmen’s ranks and duty locations, or whether they are still in the military. As for potential punishment, Ferrau said: “The Italian justice system has run its appropriate course and we are looking into what military action will be appropriate.”
According to the investigation report, the three airmen and Russo were traveling toward the center of Aviano just after midnight along via Pedemonte, a narrow road that runs along the perimeter of Area 1. The road has a posted speed limit of 30 kilometers per hour, but investigators believe the vehicle was traveling about 100 kph when it went out of control and hit a house and light pole.
It then spun around and crashed into the perimeter wall surrounding the base on the opposite side of the road. Neither Russo nor the airman riding in the back of the vehicle wore seatbelts — it’s not a requirement under Italian law — and she was thrown from the car and pronounced dead at the scene, according to the report.
The three airmen tested at three times the legal limit for alcohol in Italy, according to Ferracin. They were taken to the hospital in Pordenone.
Ferracin said his office handled two fatal-accident cases in 2007 — Russo’s and a July case in which Staff Sgt. James Cook died in a motorcycle accident.
He said Russo’s death hit the community hard and recalled an emotional memorial service in the city’s Roman Catholic Church and a soccer tournament that was dedicated in her honor.
Ferracin said he knows Russo’s mother, Veronica, and that she is still hoping to talk to the three airmen about the last moments of her daughter’s life.
Valentina Lehman provided translation for this report.
