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Man ploughs car into crowd in Italy before trying to stab them

BBC News · · 239 words · By Paulin Kola
open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cyv28pd4n22o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss

fact_checkFact-Check Results

10 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

check_circle Corroborated 5
info Single Source 4
help Insufficient Evidence 1
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“A man has driven his car into pedestrians in the northern Italian city of Modena, injuring eight people, four seriously”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent sources (CNN, Politics, and another web result) confirm a car plowed into pedestrians in Modena, Italy, with eight people injured and four in serious condition.
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web search NEUTRAL — Four of the injured were in serious condition, the mayor of Modena said, praising residents who rushed to stop the car’s driver from escaping on foot.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/16/world/europe/car-crash-mo…
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web search NEUTRAL — Shortly after a car plowed into a crowd of pedestrians in Modena, Italy on Saturday, four Italian civilians stepped in and tackled the vehicle’s driver, pulling him to the ground, according to the cit…
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/16/europe/modena-italy-car-rammi…
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web search NEUTRAL — In Modena, Italy, a car drove into pedestrians, injuring eight people. The driver, an Italian national from Bergamo, is in police custody. Four people are in serious condition. The driver reportedly b…
https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/politics/3911267-car-ch…
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“They include a woman who reportedly had both her legs crushed.”
CORROBORATED
Both The Guardian and УНН report that Mayor Massimo Mezzetti stated a woman's legs were crushed in the impact.
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web search NEUTRAL — The driver is alleged to have “aimed for the pavement, hitting a bike” before crashing “head-on” into a woman, the Modena mayor, Massimo Mezzetti, told the Ansa news agency. The mayor said the woman’s…
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/16/people-injured…
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web search NEUTRAL — Mezzetti said the driver steered the car onto the sidewalk, "hit a cyclist, and then crashed into a woman, causing her severe injuries and crushing both her legs." After that, the man was seen with a …
https://unn.ua/en/news/car-drives-into-crowd-in-italy-at-lea…
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web search NEUTRAL — A driver injured seven people, two seriously, on a Modena sidewalk on 16 May, then emerged possibly holding a knife. The man in his 30s appeared to intentionally aim for the sidewalk, hitting victims …
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/seven-injured-as-c…
info
“Passers-by gave chase and managed to detain the man, in his 30s, and hand him over to police.”
SINGLE SOURCE
While CNN mentions civilians tackled the driver, the specific detail about the man being in his 30s and the sequence of being handed to police is not explicitly corroborated by the provided search results for this specific event (the search results for claim 2 are irrelevant/about other incidents).
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web search NEUTRAL — WARNING !Rated - PG !I here by claimCopyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such a...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbVzb2cTKbM
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web search NEUTRAL — Another man was arrested on suspicion of encouraging people to attack a police officer. West Midlands police confirmed on Friday they were investigating an incident where a man was run over by a van o…
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/may/16/two-men-arre…
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web search NEUTRAL — A man in his 30s has died following a disturbance in Cork City in the early hours of Sunday morning last.A male aged in his 50s continues to be detained under the provisions of Section 4 of the Crimin…
https://www.offalyexpress.ie/news/live-gardai-detain-man-50s…
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“The incident occurred around 16:30 (14:30 GMT), when the speeding car hit the pedestrians in the centre of Modena, south-east of Milan.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided web results for claim 3 are general time zone converters and do not provide the specific time of the incident in Modena.
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web search NEUTRAL — Check Italy local time, summer/winter time 2026, standard offset to GMT and time conversion dates.
https://24timezones.com/Italy/time
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web search NEUTRAL — 2:30 AM (2:30) Next Day Moscow. ↗ Show Moscow Time (Local) to GMT Conversion Chart Instead. • Is local time not Moscow Time? Input a time zone below to convert Greenwich Mean Time: » GMT to Worldwide …
https://timebie.com/std/greenwichmean.php
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web search NEUTRAL — The timeanddate.com Time Zone Map gives an overview of current local times around the world. It takes into account daylight saving time (DST) changes worldwide.
https://www.timeanddate.com/time/map/
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“Modena's mayor said it appeared the driver "deliberately drove on to the pavement, hitting several people and crashing into a shop window"”
CORROBORATED
The Straits Times and The Guardian both attribute the statement to Mayor Mezzeti that the driver deliberately drove onto the sidewalk/pavement and crashed into a shop window.
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web search NEUTRAL — The car crashed into a shop window after hitting the pedestrians, according to local reports.The driver is alleged to have “aimed for the pavement, hitting a bike” before crashing “head-on” into a wom…
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/16/people-injured…
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web search NEUTRAL — "It seems (the driver) deliberately drove onto the sidewalk, hitting several people and crashing into a shop window. He then got out of his car and brandished a knife," said Mezzetti. One man who trie…
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/eight-injured-as-c…
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web search NEUTRAL — Modena Mayor Massimo Mezzetti, who arrived at the scene, said the attacker is of "North African" origin and is now being questioned by authorities. According to the mayor, "it appears he tried to atta…
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/sk01u78jze
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“"He then got out of his car and brandished a knife," Mezzeti said.”
CORROBORATED
The Straits Times explicitly quotes Mezzeti saying the driver 'got out of his car and brandished a knife', and CNN confirms the driver was 'knife-wielding'.
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web search NEUTRAL — Massimo Mezzetti (21 May 1962) is an Italian politician and incumbent Mayor of Modena since 2024.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massimo_Mezzetti
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web search NEUTRAL — Shortly after a car plowed into a crowd of pedestrians in Modena, Italy on Saturday, four Italian civilians stepped in and tackled the vehicle’s driver, pulling him to the ground, according to the cit…
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/16/europe/modena-italy-car-rammi…
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web search NEUTRAL — The driver is alleged to have “aimed for the pavement, hitting a bike” before crashing “head-on” into a woman, the Modena mayor, Massimo Mezzetti, told the Ansa news agency.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/16/people-injured…
info
“One man who tried to stop him was lightly injured before others joined him to overpower the attacker.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The Straits Times reports that one man who tried to stop the driver suffered minor injuries. The other search results for claim 6 refer to entirely different incidents in Sydney and Amsterdam.
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web search NEUTRAL — Imam recalls protecting terrorist from harm after attack. Quick-thinking worshippers managed to stop the attacker in his tracks by overpowering him as he tried to flee the scene.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/818655/Finsbury-Park-mosqu…
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web search NEUTRAL — Trump condemned the attack as anti-Semitic, as the Australian authorities had done earlier. The scene, where a passer-by surprised and disarmed one of the shooters during the attack, was filmed. The m…
https://www.anews.com.tr/americas/2025/12/15/trump-praises-m…
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web search NEUTRAL — A bystander overpowered the suspect who was injured in the leg, police said in a statement on X. The suspect "is receiving medical care and will be questioned at a later stage", said the police spokes…
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/5-wounded-in-stabbing-attack…
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“The mayor said the suspect was an Italian national born in Bergamo, "but of Maghreb origins".”
CORROBORATED
The Straits Times and the 'Politics' source both state the suspect is an Italian national born in Bergamo of North African/Maghreb origin.
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web search NEUTRAL — Bergamo has good links to other cities in Italy via the motorway A4 which connects Milan, Verona, and Venice.The physicist Fausto Martelli was born in Bergamo in 1982. Fausto Martelli is known for his…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergamo
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web search NEUTRAL — The driver is an Italian national born in Bergamo, of North African origin, and a resident of the Modena area, the mayor added.
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/eight-injured-as-c…
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web search NEUTRAL — Pezzi and other Italian suspects secretly convened at his “mulata francesa” lover’s, who was in turn questioned for invoking Pétion’s intervention in Santo Domingo.Bergamo-born aristocrat Giacomo Cost…
https://ageofrevolutions.com/2020/12/14/italians-crossing-th…
info
“He lives in the province of Modena.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The Straits Times mentions the driver is a 'resident of the Modena area', which corroborates the claim, but it is the only source providing this specific detail in the evidence set.
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“Italy's far-right Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini named the suspect on X as Salim El Koudri.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the provided search results regarding Matteo Salvini naming the suspect as Salim El Koudri.
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.