A paratrooper assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Vicenza, Italy, was arrested by local police on aggravated assault charges and U.S. officials are seeking a waiver of Italian authority in the case, according to a spokesman for the unit.
“Our soldier is currently in custody of the Italian government and has been provided Italian legal counsel,” said 173rd spokesman Maj. Chris Bradley. “We will continue to provide care and welfare checks on him as per U.S. regulation and in coordination with the host nation.”
U.S. Army officials said they’re respecting the host nation’s primary criminal jurisdiction in the case against Pvt. John Badger, an infantryman who was arrested by the Italian Carabinieri at the military complex that houses U.S. personnel in Vicenza.
Badger was arrested for allegedly attacking a 21-year-old Italian man in a late November incident. Other U.S. soldiers are also under investigation for the incident, according to Stars and Stripes, which reported that some of the soldiers are African American and might have been responding to being called racial slurs. Vicenza authorities said they had CCTV images of the incident that were being used to identify the Americans.
Article VII of the NATO status of forces agreement, or SOFA, provides the framework through which criminal jurisdiction is exercised. In cases where the Italian government retains the primary right of jurisdiction, U.S. officials can request a waiver of that authority.
“As a matter of standard policy, the U.S. always seeks a waiver in these cases," Bradley said. “This waiver is currently with Italian legal authorities for their decision. The appropriateness of a waiver in any individual case is a matter for the Italian government.”
The Army has been reviewing its policies governing how soldiers are allowed to visit Contra Pescherie Vecchie, a local street with a popular nightlife. An Armed Services Disciplinary Control Board was held in late January to discuss what potential measures could be implemented. All of those decisions are still under review, Bradley said.
There was a 45-day off-limit policy, which temporarily banned the 173rd’s soldiers from visiting the street. That was put in place following the November incident, but expired in January.
The local Italian prosecutor reportedly ordered Badger’s arrest due to the violence of the attack. The arrest is intended to prevent the suspect from fleeing the country, according to the lawyer for the injured man, who spoke with Stars and Stripes’ Italy-based correspondent.
“We think jail is the right place for him,” Alessandra Bocchi told Stars and Stripes. “In light of the events, I consider it the only adequate measure. My client is facing delicate surgery on his face and teeth, and it is very likely that he’ll never be the same.”
In total, two Vicenza men claimed they were surrounded and beaten by a group of U.S. soldiers after a verbal exchange just outside a popular bar for the American paratroopers based in the area, the British Daily Telegraph reported.
The American presence in Vicenza has been expanding over the last decade to increase space for U.S. Africa Command and the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, which is based in the area to train with NATO allies and provide a contingency response option.
While the 12,000 U.S. personnel and their dependents co-exist mostly peacefully with Vicenza’s more than 100,000 local residents, the Daily Telegraph reported that there has been “an uptick in problems related to heavy drinking, violence and public disorder since the expansion has exasperated locals.”
Kyle Rempfer was an editor and reporter who has covered combat operations, criminal cases, foreign military assistance and training accidents. Before entering journalism, Kyle served in U.S. Air Force Special Tactics and deployed in 2014 to Paktika Province, Afghanistan, and Baghdad, Iraq.
