crime

Man arrested over fatal hit-and-run in Tokyo

8 Comments

Police in Tokyo have arrested a 56-year-old man over a hit-and-run incident that killed a male pedestrian in Adachi Ward on Tuesday.

The suspect, Kazuhiro Yamanaka, a courier driver from Ibaraki Prefecture, is accused of hitting Koji Takahashi, 41, a company employee, with his truck along the Nikko Kaido at around 5 a.m., Fuji TV reported.  Police said Takahashi was crossing the road at a point where there was no crossing. After he was hit, a passerby called 119. Takahashi was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Police traced Yamanaka’s truck by reviewing street surveillance camera footage from the area. Police said Yamanaka, who has been arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving resulting in death, has partially denied the allegation and quoted him as saying, “I was aware that I hit something, but I didn’t think it was a person.”

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

8 Comments
Login to comment

Ramzel:

if you’d feel a hit, you’d assume it’s some trash or something.

Depends on how much of a hit that is. I assume a human would be quite noticable.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I've never hit anything, but if I did hit something hard enough to kill a person I'd check what on earth it had been. How on earth the driver didn't see someone moving is beyond me though. This is Tokyo, nowhere is pitch black here.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Do you guys drive? If it’s in the middle of the night and lighting is poor and you are driving on a normal ride, no where near a pedestrian crossing, if you’d feel a hit, you’d assume it’s some trash or something.

-7 ( +3 / -10 )

How the hell can he think he hit something but not be in the slightest aware that it might be a person.

Did he think he'd hit a bear in deepest Adachi-ku?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Not excusing someone driving away, but they simply MUST mitigate the punishment when pedestrians are some place they shouldn't be.

What significance is “”jaywalking” in a country where crosswalks are of no significance to drivers? You are probably as likely to be hit by a car In a crosswalk as you are in the middle of the road.

He hit the guy and kept going. The punishment should be as harsh as possible.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I was aware I got someone but didn’t know it was a person.

Is that a staple Japanese excuse for hot and runners? Same as “I never meant to kill them” after stabbing them

1 ( +1 / -0 )

While I have sympathy for him hitting somebody who made the unfortunate choice to jaywalk a large street at night, he should have stopped. I know the Japanese law would have crucify him anyways, but the sentence would have been more lenient, and his conscience cleaner.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Police said Takahashi was crossing the road at a point where there was no crossing

Not excusing someone driving away, but they simply MUST mitigate the punishment when pedestrians are some place they shouldn't be.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites