Posted on 09/12/2008 5:38:54 AM PDT by kellynla
Four times Italian women's champion Lara Liotta, 29, was on a street in broad daylight in central Rome when the man, a Romanian immigrant of no fixed abode, approached her and asked her for a cigarette.
When she told him she did not smoke he allegedly lunged for her and grabbed her around the neck.
Miss Liotta, who works as prison officer, immediately put her black belt training to good use, delivering two swift jabs to the man's face which sent him crashing to the ground.
The karate champion was fortunate she could rely on her skills to fight off her attacker because there was no assistance from passersby, despite the attack happening shortly after rush hour on Monday.
"No one helped me or stopped, even though there are lots of people around at that time of the day," she told an Italian newspaper.
After punching the man to the floor, she ran to the nearby railway station of Termini and alerted police, who caught him before he could run away. He was arrested and detained on charges of assault.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
I agree that they are not synonymous, but a “Romanian of no fixed abode” is more likely than not a gypsy (or Romani).
Sad comentary on society. Socialism breeds apathy.
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