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A 34-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday night after a 7-hour standoff on a rooftop in Inazawa, Aichi Prefecture.
The man, identified as Shinsaku Matsumoto, was wanted on a charge of car theft, police said. When officers went to his apartment to arrest him, he went up to the roof, taking his 30-year-old girlfriend with him, Fuji TV reported.
For seven hours, the pair sat on the roof. Matsumoto brandished a knife and told police not to come near them or he would push his girlfriend off the roof.
The standoff ended at about 8:40 p.m. when police hurled teargas onto the roof. TV footage showed police aiming flashlights at Matsumoto while other officers threw teargas at him. Police then used forked rods to restrain Matsumoto. His girlfriend was also arrested for abetting a crime, police said.
© Japan Today
23 Comments
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Laguna
I rather guess she is not his girlfriend anymore.
ReformedBasher
"Forked spear" would be a modern version of a sasumata.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasumata
Some teachers train with them at school in case an intruder threatens to harm students.
Elbuda Mexicano
Anyway, these 2 losers are under arrest. Does anybody really care?
jumpultimatestars
Um, he did all that just to avoid the car theft charge? Does stealing a car even land you in jail?
Vernie Jefferies
They had Live coverage of the standoff on the evening news, and that roof was very high off the ground. During that time, I didn't see any police, and I couldn't see a strategy to get them down.
Scooter Ivy
What crime d id she abet, the car theft? If she was being threatened with a knife and with being pushed off the roof I wouldn't think she was a willing participant.
OrangeXenon54
@Scooter Ivy: I was thinking the same thing, too. How did she play a part in this?
sensei258
The "forked rods" were probably like those in schools where I teach. The 2-pronged fork is about a meter across, and the handle is about 2.5 meters long.
borax
The footage of the incident really showed the shocking incompetence of the police. The way they stormed this guy on the roof was so half-assed, they looked like rookies. Had we wanted to harm the woman when things got tense, the police gave him a HUGE window of opportunity to do so.
Goals0
It was fairly clear that the woman was his accomplice. He was probably on drugs and potentially could do something stupid though. Fortunately when his keitai battery ran out, his human battery also ran out.
megosaa
they were there, at least 7 to 8 ninjas; and of course you wouldn't be able to see them!
nath
Goals0 - " he was probably on drugs".
On what is this assumption based? That's like something my 85 year-old grandfather would say.
rickyvee
@borax
couldn't agree more. there was about a 10 second gap between each teargas container and then another 20-30 seconds before they approached him. if he was serious with his threat of throwing his girlfriend off the rooftop or harming her, he had plenty of time to do it. why not just shoot the idiot in the arm or leg? isn't that what guns are for?!
Goals0
@StewartJG
Based on the first videos that were on TV:
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20130416/k10013957191000.html
Loki520
Well, she certainly didn't "resist". You could see PLENTY of opportunity for her to knock his dumb a$$ off the roof in the news footage.
Dude, you sit next to the edge of the roof with me up there like that, turned away from me... I"m booting ya.
Surf O'Holic
Rubber bullets anyone? Or how about a few well-placed BBs? Just enough to get the idiotS off the roof.
knowitall
That was the most incompetent "rescue" I have ever seen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LZumZkM1JM
I hope they were absolutely sure he had no intention of harming her before trying that. The newspapers said the cops fired warning shots with their pistols. While not a great distance, it pistols are not that accurate and shots could have hit the hostage. Of course, whoever approved that comedy act will probably get a commendation instead of being fired.
DudeDeuce
Funny thing when I saw it on the news, both looked like a couple normal yankees sitting on the roof. The woman didn't look panicked and she was smoking along with him.
LinDaiYu
TBS are reporting that the guy actually was on drugs, so he's been arrested for that too.
Baibaikin
As @borax and a couple of others pointed out, despite being decked out in body armour with 'forked spears', the police looked pretty hopeless. Don't they have tazers here? A quick zap to the gnads would've subdued the knife-yielding, girlfriend-threatening, amphetamine-fuelled, young car thief yankee.
Tbear
Rubber bullet to the groin...hostage situation over. Take the shot!
kimuzukashiiiii
I saw it on TV and it certainly didn't LOOK like she wanted to be there. He was pushing and pulling her around, and it very much appeared that she was being kept there against her will.
However .. maybe she helped him steal the car or something? I dunno?
Goals0
He admitted he had just ingested kakuseizai - amphetamines or methamphetamines:
http://news.tbs.co.jp/newseye/tbs_newseye5309779.html