Kyoto police deny witnessing death of high school girl in traffic accident

Does it matter? If the girls tried to flee the police, then the accident would be the girl's fault, or possibly the driver of the small car. Can't blame someone for doing their job.

This is one time I'm siding with the police. However, they shouldn't have lied about it. I would have given avery detailed description of the accident to both of thier parents too.

I do feel sorry for the driver of the car that the bike hit.

Actually, did they help caused the accident? Things can go terribly wrong during a "chase".

lying is wrong!!! police are supposed to be on the side of "right" or correct.

Prefectural police say an investigation is underway to establish the reasons for the discrepancies in their report

Uh, there is a discrepency because they lied. Don't need to have an investigation to know that. Just suspend the clowns.

If the police lied, then they obviously thought they were doing something deemed suspicious/illegal and had to protect themselves, right? Sounds about right. Let's lying.

On a serious note, with the way some of the kids ride scooters I am honestly surprised there are not MORE accidents. Especially with the way Japanese police just 'tail' the bosozoku while they're riding like idiots all through traffic. Seems like one big joke the way Japanese police deal with those situations.

If the girls would have just pulled over in the pursuit, then we would not be reading about it in JT, and they would either be out there doing something else silly or reforming themselves. Sorry for the parents loss. Also, typical of the police saying they saw nothing.

Actually, did they help caused the accident? Things can go terribly wrong during a "chase".

This is an interesting argument that has come up a lot recently, and I have a pretty big problem with it. Mostly because it removes the responsibilities we have to obey the law. I'm very firmly of the belief that if you choose to break the law you must deal with the consequences - in this case, that they had been caught and should pull over and face the punishment. It's a very minor crime anyway, and what's the likely consequence? A fine? Not worth dying for.

I always feel sorry for cops who get in trouble in the course of trying to do their jobs.

Probably cute girls wearing HS mini skirts...skirting the law and looking in the rear view mirror too much,

This is very sad, very tragic, for all those involved, the police should have known to stay farther away as to not scare these kids into doing something stupid, which is very easy to do if you feel threatened and are panicking and trying to flee, right??

A more accurate headline would be "...falsely deny..."

I can understand--but not condone--the cops wanting to avoid being seen as responsible for the girls' deaths, but the girls brought it on themselves by trying to escape while riding illegally. Their families may (or may not) prefer to blame the police, but perhaps if they'd paid more attention to raising their daughters properly, the whole tragedy could have been avoided.

The cops shouldn't have lied, but pursuit of lawbreakers leading to a fatal accident seems to be to be the fault of those being chased, not those doing the chasing.

The officers involved claimed they had been following two high school girls riding the same small motorbike trying to get upshots of their panties.

Now we see why they lied on the report....

"JapanGalJUN. 08, 2012 - 08:47AM JST Probably cute girls wearing HS mini skirts..."

My thoughts precisely, and likely the J-cops copping a gaze, not wanting to lose their freebie.

"............. but perhaps if they'd paid more attention to raising their daughters properly, the whole tragedy could have been avoided..........." The smug self righteous person that wrote the above is obviously not a parent of young adults.

Lot of speculation and conjecture on the forum from three paragraphs. Reading the article, I can't say one way or another what was going on other than police were monitoring a traffic violation, those police lost sight o the vehicle in question for an unspecified period of time. Said vehicle was in an accident. I see nothing to indicate anyone lying, or that the scooter was attempting to elude the police. Hell, the lead in this story contradicts itself. Give me some quotes, facts, and some attributions. Just because TBS is said to have reported means nothing without some form of accountability.

PS, sorry if my English is not so good. It's not my native language.

People don't usually lie without the reason of trying to avoid some responsibility.

Strange how some people tell us high schoolers are just little kids when it suits them, but when the police give chase they are expected to pull over like model adult citizens.

Two people on a scooter is not a violation that gets other people killed generally. It gets themselves killed. So the police should not give extended chase to such violators because it just gets them killed faster.

What I want to hear is what the girl who survived has to say. Might explain the lie of the police.

The reason the police may have lied about the situation is that they have strict procudural rules that they are supposed to follow in situations like this. They are supposed to back off and not chase too hard, even if it means that the offenders get away, so as to prevent causing accidents.

As has been said above, one can't be certain what happened here from the info in the report. However, in all probability these police officers were in violaition of procedural rules and tried to cover it up.

This is typical of Japanese police. There have been countless times I've seen helmet-less riders, bosozoku, and doubled-up riders (some without helmets) drive right past the police station. Nothing ever happens. I've even seen a cop stare down some punk on his bosozoku bike while the kid revved it and ran the red light (just before it turned green). Maybe they don't think it's worth their time to do paperwork?

The article does not mention what time of day or night. So many scenarios...

It is possible for example that it was was 3:00 am and the girls had just broken off from their bosozoku group.

We just don't know.

What we do know is that the Police were afraid they were going to get hammered by the parents and the authorities, as has happened so often in the past here. Since the Police often end up taking the blame, they can be unwilling to take any action. Vicious cycle.

Why would they lie about it? It doesn't seem like there was much they could do either way.

"There have been countless times I've seen helmet-less riders, bosozoku, and doubled-up riders (some without helmets) drive right past the police station. Nothing ever happens."

Pity they can't just give them a sound thrashing!

Like many people, they didnt want to be involved in the situation. They probably just wanted to avoid the resposibilty and duties there within.

Do your job!

Usually I defend police after a crash has resulted from a chase because they are doing their job. But lying isn't meant to be part of the job! Why did they lie here?

Two people on a scooter is not a violation that gets other people killed generally. It gets themselves killed. So the police should not give extended chase to such violators because it just gets them killed faster.

So... they shouldn't enforce wearing sit belts because only the people not wearing them would die, right?

another thing that could be done in my opinion is enforcing the laws of this country more often and educating people on proper laws more. Many of the people I know in Japan don't even know some of these laws exist. I have friends who seriously think it is ok to ride with no seat belt, their child in no seat or seat belt, doubling on motorbikes or bicycles, using umbrella on bicycle. There are many laws big and small deliberately disobeyed but is it due to being a rebel? or due to lack of knowledge?

In this situation, everyone loses. What if you were the parent, brother, sister, friend, etc., of the girl who died? Would you say, “Well my loved one died, but she should have just followed the law.” What if the girl who lived was the driver? How does she explain to her friend’s parents? What if you were one of the police officers? I doubt they became police officers so they could some how be responsible for a high school girl’s death. These officers go home tonight and a family member asks, “How was your day, caught any bad guys?” How do they answer? “No, no bad guys, but I saw a high school girl lying dead in the street, and maybe I was responsible.” How do they forget the girl’s face lying in the street? And yes, everyone affected should be watched for any suicidal actions. In high school, we all did things that could have turned really bad, but did not; so we forgot about it.

get a life accidents happen in chases

Not enough info to guess as to which party was wrong & to what extent, but the FACT the cop(s) THATS PLURAL, lied, is pretty huge in this, clearly they have done something wrong.

But hey, lieing & cops/"justice" in Japan is standard operating procedure for far too many!

Patrick Hagger, it may sound cool to say “get a life accidents happen in chases”. But when someone you care for is lying dead due to an accident, and you are looking for answers, don’t worry. Someone will come up to you, put their hand on your shoulder and say, “Patrick, don’t think about it too much, get a life accidents happen”.

I have no problem with the cops chasing the girl bosozokus, but then lying about it is an entirely different matter. They should be fired for that.

Why lie? because they didn't want to get blamed for causing the girls to crash.