Salvatore Ruoppolo, a 63-year-old police lieutenant, sustained head and left eye injuries yesterday in Naples after being struck with an iron bar. The Social Emergencies and Minors Protection Unit agent, accompanied by some Street Unit social workers, was engaged in the usual porch cleaning arrangements. A young homeless man, who had been invited to get up and allow the cleaning of the places, refused and hit the lieutenant in the face with an iron stake that he had hidden under the covers. To defend himself, the officer fired at least seven shots, wounding the attacker in the leg before collapsing to the ground in a pool of blood. Immediate intervention of the operators, as well as numerous bystanders who attempted to stop the immigrant. Despite being injured, the man continued to attack the agent until the intervention of Army military and State Police agents, who made the arrest, avoiding a lynch mob. Both injured parties were transported to a hospital; the officer sustained multiple fractures to both upper limbs, a swollen eye, and several stitches to the head; he is currently undergoing further examination.
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