A small memorial marks the spot in Sant’ Antonio Porcia, Italy, where an Italian teenager was killed in August 2022. Julia Bravo, an American airman stationed at Aviano Air Base, received a suspended prison sentence for striking the teenager with her car. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
An American airman serving in Italy received a suspended two-and-a-half year prison sentence for killing a 15-year-old boy in 2022 while driving drunk near Aviano Air Base, according to Italian news reports.
Airman 1st Class Julia Bravo, 21, originally faced the prospect of being behind bars for up to 12 years, but problems with her blood alcohol test led the court to disregard drunk driving as an aggravating factor in the death of Giovanni Zanier, Italian news service ANSA said Monday. The Pordenone prosecutor’s office did not return calls for comment from Stars and Stripes on Tuesday.
Bravo is a security forces airman at Aviano, 31st Fighter Wing officials said Wednesday.
Bravo hit Zanier on a sidewalk in Porcia at about 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 21, 2022, while driving home from a nightclub. She had a blood alcohol level four times the legal limit, ANSA reported at the time.
“That night would have been better if I had died,” Bravo told the Pordenone court during a hearing, ANSA reported.
The streetlights in the area were shut off as part of an energy-saving policy, the newspaper Il Gazzettino reported.
In August, the boy’s mother, Barbara Scandella, told the court she wanted Bravo to be tried in Italy. Under the NATO Status of Forces Agreement, cases involving American service members can be transferred to U.S. jurisdiction.
The treaty was invoked in 1998, when a Marine Corps plane leaving Aviano Air Base clipped a cable car at a ski resort, killing 20 people. The pilots were tried in the U.S. and acquitted of manslaughter, which drew protests in Italy.
After attempts to reach a plea agreement failed, Bravo’s attorneys in November asked Judge Rodolfo Piccin for a speedy trial that would allow the reduction of a third of the potential sentence.
A compensation agreement between the U.S. and Zanier’s family was reached shortly after the crash, according to Pordenone Today, which did not specify the terms.
“Words cannot fully express our condolences for the loss of Giovanni Zanier and the impact that has had on his family and community,” the 31st Fighter Wing said in a statement Wednesday. “We remain committed to building trust with our Italian partners. We recognize that rebuilding trust takes time, and we remain committed to the journey ahead.”
