Woman damages heritage site by throwing e-scooter; video goes viral

A video of an American tourist hurling her electric scooter down the historic Spanish Steps in Italy’s capital Rome is going viral.

A passerby had filmed the viral video. The clip showed the 28-year-old woman, whose name was kept secret, hurling her rented e-scooter down the Spanish Steps which are an 18th century World Heritage Foundation site.

Police reportedly arrested her and her 29-year-old male accomplice who was also riding his own scooter down the stairs. They both were slapped with a $430 (more than Rs172,000) fine.

The 16th and 29th steps along with many sections of the heritage site sustained damage worth $26,000 (more than Rs5million).

Spanish Steps is one of the most protected tourism spots in the Italian capital. There is a ban for sitting on it since 2018. In 2015, it underwent a $1.5million (over Rs3billion) restoration project.

A life ban was imposed on the duo from visiting the site following the incident.

The incident happened weeks after a 37-year-old Saudi businessman drove his Maserati down the Spanish Steps after “taking a wrong turn”.

“Yes, it was me who drove the car down the Spanish Steps,” he said as quoted in the report. “But I just took a wrong turn.”.

He admitted to not thinking of it being ‘so serious’ after driving into the famous tourist spot.