Man beaten by disabled bus passenger

FLORENCE, Italy, July 18 (UPI) -- Doctors said a Nigerian man who was beaten by a disabled man on a bus in Italy Thursday is at risk of paralysis.

The 45-year-old victim allegedly hesitated to give up his standing spot for disabled passengers to a 41-year-old Romanian man in a wheelchair, ANSA reported.

The disabled man then allegedly beat the victim severely, using his cane as a weapon, the bus driver said.

The victim was taken to a hospital in Florence with several fractured vertebrae.

Police are questioning the disabled attacker and have confiscated the man's bloody cane, ANSA said.