A 33-year-old man who got into a fight with police while resisting arrest lost consciousness while in the patrol car and later died in hospital in Osaka on Saturday night.
According to police, at around 10:30 p.m., a taxi driver called 110 and said he was having trouble with a drunk male passenger in Miyakojima Ward, Fuji TV reported.
Police went to the scene and found the man intoxicated, on the street, using offensive language at them. When they tried to approach him, he resisted and it took four officers to pin him down. He was put into a patrol car where he continued to struggle in the back seat. On the way to the police station, the man complained of dizziness and fell unconscious.
Police said they tried a heart massage and then called for an ambulance. The man was taken to hospital where he died shortly after arrival.
Police said an autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death of the man who was a company employee from Toyonaka city.
© Japan Today
28 Comments
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Yubaru
Well, in this case you really can blame it on the alcohol! 4 cops to subdue one guy? I would love to see a picture of just how big, or small, he was.
Typically if someone is THAT drunk the should be a hell of a lot easier to subdue!
Michael Jackson
Sometimes It takes so many officers in Japan because the police are just being too nice. I once watched a group of policemen subdue a drunk guy who was running around in traffic. It took 13 officers to get this guy under control, eventually wrapping him in a blanket before throwing him in the back seat of the patrol car.
Furan
Very likely he had an alcohol problem (like many salarymen) and was in a state where his intoxicated blood wasn't able to support the tantrum he threw.
maybeperhapsyes
I have a good idea of what happened.
all I will say is never resist arrest and RIP to the fella. Whatever he done he didnt deserve to die and somebody out there is grieving now.
Maria
He could be on medication for a health problem too, which, hen mixed with alcohol, has severe reactions. Poor fellow.
Bintaro
If this is exact, I think the cops might be in trouble !
commanteer
That's far preferable to USA cops, who would taser him, beat him with clubs, or just shoot him like a dog.
porto
@Bintaro
That would've been a messy scene if it were true.
sir_bentley28
What would make a case against the police is at what point did the police try a heart massage? Did they stop right as he complained or after they got back to the station?
thepersoniamnow
You can’t rule out police brutality either until a (fair) autopsy is done.
nakanoguy01
not really. usually the more drunk someone is, the more agressive and dangerous they become once pissed off. it's called liquid courage, or in this case liquid idiocy.
Disillusioned
All Japanese police need to play a few seasons of rugby to learn how to flatten these drunks without needing a scrum of cops to achieve it.
Jonathan Prin
Many policemen are physically looking weaker than my 70 year old dad and wearing too large clothes for them to have full free movement.
Then a drunk guy can be as agressive as a bear. A net or a blanket should do easily do it though.
Poor man but he started the issue.
bones
I thought the police were highly trained to handle such situations:-/
darknuts
I thought this only happened in the states.
Goodlucktoyou
From my experience, j cops are weak and cowards. They rely on groups to subdue one person. Get them to the station and get a confession. But at least they don’t just shoot people in the back and kill them. That’s the good point.
HARRYO
I Don't blame the Japanese police, If you can't handle your liquor then don't drink. If this guy drank and was a nice drunk he would still be here with the living but I guess he was one of those mean drunks who like to start trouble when their drunk end result drinking liquor cost him his life. Cheers
maybeperhapsyes
Somewhere bewteen Goodlucktoyou and Reckless there is a case for a police investigation. (There won't be) A drunk 33 year old does not just keel over and die.
I've seen many a drunk being wrestled to the ground with officers kneeling on them. Totally unnecessary use of force, and many times escalated by the police. Ex job myself and like to think I'm on the police's side, but sometimes it's just wrong how they go about it.
One on one. If he resists and tries to assault you, take out your baton and give him one to the upper thigh. He will drop like a sack of potatoes. Gonna hurt...but won't kill him.
Gaijinjland
The J cops are not weak. But they are not as trigger happy as US cops and only use force as a last result.
In my younger days I had a run in with the J cops (my ex Japanese wife claimed DV out of spite) and it took only one j cop to restrain me... I want to point out that this was not excessive force. The cop was not violent but he had me in a hold and when I tried to move he I felt a huge amount of pressure on my arm and he told me to stay still.
I’ve been in fights before but at that moment I realized A: I’m not as strong as I thought and that the J cop could have taken me down in an instant if he had wanted to and B: if you’re ever in that situation do not mess with the J cops and cooperate with them.
If the J cops really needed four officers to bring this fellow down he either must have been extremely drunk and violent because otherwise the cops better have a good explanation.
Unlike the US, in Japan it is not common for suspects to die in custody.
Slickdrifter
Tasers. Takes em all down. I have seen it with own eyes. This man most likey had some underlying heath issues and had to much booze in him. He did not deserve to die however. Once saw a 250 mucle bound Marine reduced to crying 2 year old rolling on the ground after being tased which was part of his PMO training. Mace works too. And Jcops are not weak. They are pretty tolerant to a point.
AustPaul
This would be a death in custody here and would result in a full investigation, hopefully the same in Japan too.
You have to be careful when pinning someone down to avoid positional restraint asphyxia (PRA) and it’s important to always have someone checking their level of consciousness.
@Slick, the bigger and more muscular you are the better the taser works. :)
theFu
Being drunk and belligerent in public is never a good idea. If you are that sort of person, best NOT to get so drunk.
The safety of others comes before the safety of someone THIS drunk.
I just can't imagine the J-police being the cause, but will we ever know the truth?
sakurasuki
I saw one time, there was an old guy have a dispute with station staff. What happened next was more than six officers arrived. I saw another minor incident happened and again somewhere else they sent lot of officers.
Emmanuel Owusu Kwarteng
The story doesn’t add up. Something is missing, how can one day lose consciousness and died later after police overpowering if the police had not acted unprofessionally? I once was pulled out of my car by police and how they got me on the ground I couldn’t believe it. I could hardly breath. I was scared to death and have never the Japanese police could be so inhuman for a traffic offense ( unknoeofribingnin a lane restricted for bus during the hours between 7 am and 9 am.
The police no doubt based on my own experience might have acted unprofessionally resulting in this man’s death. Hey who was the eye witness except the police and you think they will the story to implicate themselves?
surfer21
@Emmanuel Owusu Kwarteng why did the police force you on ground for a traffic offense?