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© KYODOEgyptian sumo wrestler denies driving car that caused accident
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gogogo
The biggest being the management rigged the "sport"... Which is always forgotten.
borscht
Two important points. As the headline states, its an EGYPTIAN sumo wrestler (not a native born one; they would never do that).
And two, the police hand him over to prosecutors immediately but wait when one physically assaults and injures another? If Takanohana hadn’t made a fuss about it, the sumo association would’ve swept the assault under the dojo never to be seen again.
And three, can sumo wrestlers fit behind a wheel of a car? What kind of car? Obviously not a kei car…
Luddite
Idiot.
toshiko
@borscht: I hope everybody read your comment.
He does not have license.
His wife lied. She will be charged with Perjury that receive heavy penalty. Smo Association should contact a law firm. to lecture basic of. Laws.
Cricky
Banned from driving, the ancient sports governing body decided due to past traffic accidents so no licence. If that's there ancient thinking then alcohol should be banned do to past incidents. Match fixing due to past incidents. Bulling to the point of killing should be banned. Or teach them to behave like a responsible adult and allow them to be adults. All these ancient rules cause more problems than simple education.
jcapan
Second Borscht's complaint about the tedious FOREIGNER headline. And for god's sake, they can't even drive. Sumo needs to be blown up.
M3M3M3
Either way he is admitting that he's a dishonest liar attempting to obstruct the investigation. I don't believe him for one second.
CrazyJoe
Check the security cameras to see who was driving.
SaikoPhysco
Poor wrestler.... jeeezz, they're really under a microscope... a minor accident and its big news.
M3M3M3
The minor accident was ever big news. The lying is big news.
Ex_Res
Borscht
Agreed. It seems a little odd that he was handed over to prosecutors straight away. After all, this was a minor incident, which could surely have been dealt with by the police.
I assume that he has the necessary insurance, as does all the other parties involved in this minor incident.
Also agreed. Why does the headline say Egyptian sumo wrestler?
RealCDN
I expect he is lying. Sad but true.
Laguna
Moby reports on the scope of his fate ー 3年以下の懲役又は50万円以下の罰金 . He'd better hope no one was hurt, and lying to the coos will be held against him when sentenced. Never lie to cops.
Ex_Res
I was under the impression that in Japan a person is persumed innocent until proven guilty. (In the case of a minor road traffic accident - at fault).
If his wife was driving then surely it is a matter for her insurance company.
Civitas Sine Suffragio
The poor woman is pregnant so hopefully the cops will go easy on her
Wakarimasen
Sumo going thru a rough patch. O Sun Arshi can't be that difficult to recognize. CCTV?
nandakandamanda
Their joint problem, and their joint story, but he is the money maker, so she will naturally want to protect that first. Let us hope that the Sumo Association will 'discover' some way to give him a break and allow his career to move forwards.
wanderlust
@Ex_res - they have to maintain the 99% conviction rate. Often, if you are arrested, your employer will immediately fire you, whether guilty or innocent; so that they are not tainted by being identified in public as the employer; while people around you will cut ties.
robert maes
Let me enlighten you all a bit as I work in the sports industry and used to work with sumo wrestlers. And I do not mean that in an arrogant way, I just want to point out some facts.
It is correct that the sumo federation prohibits wrestlers from driving. It is to protect them, in my opinion, that is overprotection. They are adults, should be allowed to drive under the same rules as anybody else and the same laws. But even an accident should not affect their careers, unless if DUI or other unacceptable behavior for a professional athlete. You don't loose your job at the bank when you have a minor car accident.
If he lies, it is because the sumo federation scares him into it with unreasonable penalties because he drove a car.
Of course sumo wrestlers can drive, regardless of their size. The cars can be adjusted with driver seats moved backward and pedals adjusted as well. And they are athletes with good reflexes and reaction times. They would usually drive SUV's or bigger models such as Mercedes, Audi, Lexus or Jeeps.
May I also ask you all to think about this ; Professional sports, by definition, is nearly never clean, there is too much money going around for that. Doping in cycling, athletics, weightlifting..., deals in tennis, sumo, boxing, betting on baseball, football, soccer... shall I continue ? If you want to see pure sports, go to see amateur games our youth games, there is a chance, they are mostly clean. But we want our hero's to be perfect, nobody is. But we unrealistically demand it from them. Accept them with their human mistakes, DO NOT condone the doping, the match fixing etc.. but accept it as a sad fact that should be cured but probably won't.
But anyone betting on a professional sports game for example, should think twice before pointing fingers.
toshiko
@Ex: Japan is well known as the country of guilty until proven innocent. Police catches criminal, hand to prosecutors. If lucky court.
toshiko
He is big. Cop. didn't beat him.
Blattamexiguus
Sounds like the Chris Huhne case in the UK.
Ex Tory energy minister and his wife both got 8months jail time for trying the same thing.
he claimed she was driving too.
The driving offence wasnt the issue. It's attempting to pevert the course of justice that puts you in deep sh#t!
seadog538
Am I imagining it or do foreign born rikishi get into trouble more often than the native born?
Nessie
So to protect his pregnant wife, the sumo wrestler sat on her? I guess "I was drinking" wasn't an option.
Jonathan Prin
Foreign sumo westlers always under scrutiny.
Get you wife pregnant and tell me you won't use all your might to protect her from anything to happen slall or big.
If he lied, then bad but liying is not a crime at all for me in that case if no one was hurt. So I would be lenient. With most western Christian style, you forgive easily, Japanese don't. Hence their actual apathy and lack of initiative.
Good luck and be the truth merciful.
Ex_Res
Wanderlust, Toshiko.
Has he been arrested?
If so he should explain to the judge (which he must see within 48 hours) that he was not driving.
A judge should take a balanced look at all the facts before him/her.
Ex_Res
Thanks for that Educator60. I'm sure that this is just a straight forward insurance issue, and not worth too much attention. Thousands of collisions take place everyday.
toshiko
If this is his first offence, he might be released. If his case is handled in a court, a judge may release him with some amount of bail money. I think Association will pay.
Ex_Res
Toshiko
Assuming any offence has happened, would the court not just send a summons in the post?
toshiko
When issueing summons are necessary, a bailiff brings to home and hands to addressee. they don't use postal. service to give summons. If defendant has defense attorney, summons will be given to defense attorney.
toshiko
When bail money is high, bond man will loan 10 % of bail and defen dant will be released.
nandakandamanda
He says his wife was driving but witnesses and security cameras had him at the wheel, apparently. The police also have information from the neighbors about who used to drive the car regularly.
News programs showed a quick close-up of the crushed/dented front left fender and grille, but it was hard to tell what car it was, either a black Merc or maybe Honda sedan, fairly large, it seemed.
toshiko
Educ: I wrote "if'
Afe you sure cops ignored. him caused accident?
toshiko
@nanda: Probably Merce? Large size people's choice. Sport magazines stated he was arrested for
toshiko
He was caught by Nagano polices, with many curious people watching. Driving without valid licensee. H was hiding this accident to Sumo Association.
toshiko
He bumped his car to another car. No one was hurt. Her or his wife might be hurt.