Sant'Anastasia, "Don't be respectful": He hits his partner and then yells at the police.

Via Romani, Sant'Anastasia. A parked Audi. Inside, a flurry of punches and slaps. Outside, a shoe abandoned on the asphalt and the swollen face of a frightened woman. A few minutes later, the same man who had just hit his partner turns to the policeman and lectures him: "Don't be respectful. You shouldn't ask my girl for her ID."

The paradox lies here. Respect loudly invoked after being obliterated by force.

The spark: a comment under a story

It all seems to have been triggered by a comment on the victim's social media profile. One of those comments that scroll under a story, left by a man the 35-year-old doesn't know. Jealousy sets in. The girl's phone becomes evidence to be seized, a file to be processed independently. He demands to read everything: messages, chats, conversations.

He asks several times. She refuses. Then his hands take the place of his voice.

The attempt to snatch her phone

The 35-year-old reaches for the woman's pants pocket. He wants her smartphone. He can't. Then he hits her. Punches, slaps, insults, threats. The car is stopped. Two passersby try to restrain him. Just then, a Carabinieri patrol passes by on Via Romani and intervenes.

"Don't ask her for her ID."

In front of the officers, the man refuses to let his partner speak. He refuses to be asked for identification. He considers it a lack of respect. He repeats the point, in dialect, as if the code of honor applies after the robberies and not before. The Carabinieri from the Sant'Anastasia station handcuff him.

The crimes charged: attempted robbery and assault.

Destination: prison. The victim was diagnosed with head trauma, multiple facial contusions, and a sprained cervical spine. Prognosis: seven days. A shoe on the ground, a swollen face, a misused word. The rest was up to the police.