"I hadn't driven in a while, and I wanted to do it again." This is how the 62-year-old man, arrested yesterday in Sassari after stealing a fruit and vegetable van on Corso Pascoli, justified his decision at today's court hearing. He was stopped after a long chase by the Carabinieri and the State Police.

The man, connected remotely from Bancali prison, was defended by attorneys Salvatore Castronuovo and Marco Palmieri, having injured his foot. He faced charges of theft, resisting a public officer, criminal damage, and failing to stop at a Carabinieri checkpoint. Judge Massimo Zaniboni, as requested by prosecutor Maria Paola Asara, ordered the arrest to be validated and a custodial sentence imposed.

Yesterday, the 62-year-old, who has several criminal records, took the van, which had the keys in the ignition, and fled towards Li Punti, pursued first by the owner and then by soldiers and police. Despite repeated warnings from law enforcement and seven machine gun shots fired at his tires, the man, of Romanian origin, continued driving and was stopped at the Sant'Orsola roundabout.

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