A man is facing criminal charges in Italy for allegedly pulling the emergency brake on nearly 100 trains and causing all sorts of commuter delays – apparently for his own amusement, according to media reports.
The suspect, a 47-year-old from Bulgaria, is in a Genoa jail facing charges of interrupting a public service and resisting a public official, according to the website Wanted in Rome.
The rouge rider reportedly would often wait until trains picked up speed in tunnels, along lines in the Italian regions of Liguria, Piemonte and Lombardi, before he struck.
He’d then try to blend in by mingling with other straphangers. His last known offense was in the past week on a train bound for Genoa.
Police were able to track down the suspect – whose name was not immediately known — thanks to surveillance cameras and the testimonies of train conductors.
Apparently, he’s just as mischievous in the air as he on the tracks.
The same man managed to get a plane turned around last spring by causing a ruckus shortly after takeoff from Orio al Serio International Airport in Bergamo, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.
The man was allegedly intoxicated and began screaming when he couldn’t find an emergency brake on the plane — perhaps convinced he was on a train — leading the pilot to change course and fly back to Bergamo, according to ANSA.