crime

Man gets 3 1/2 years in jail for assaulting truck driver after tailgating him on expressway

10 Comments

The Nagoya District Court on Thursday sentenced a 34-year-old man to 3 1/2 years in prison for attempting to kill a truck driver after a dispute on the Tomei Expressway in Nisshin City, Aichi Prefecture, in February.

Prosecutors had sought a four-year sentence for Yoshimichi Tsutsumi who tailgated a 43-year-old truck driver on the expressway at around 2 a.m. on Feb 21, Fuji TV reported. 

The court heard that the truck merged onto a lane along the expressway, getting in front of the car being driven by Tsutsumi,.

Tsutsumi apparently got upset and started tailgating the truck. The truck driver moved into a slower lane. However, Tsutsumi got in front of him and slowed down, forcing the truck to stop on the shoulder of the road.

The truck driver told police Tsutsumi got out of the car and started yelling at him that he was in a hurry and expressing anger at him for moving into the lane in front of him. He then said he would kill the truck driver and started to beat his face and legs with a fake metal sword. The victim suffered a fracture to his right knee.

Tsutsumi, who worked for a wrecking company at the time, was arrested after an analysis of the truck’s dashboard camera caught images of his car. He admitted he got angry and assaulted the truck driver but denied intent to kill.

© Japan Today

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10 Comments
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Good he got a prison sentence, but a ten year ban on driving would be good as well. I’ve been harassed and hooned a few times by reckless idiots on the roads for traveling at the speed limit. Hopefully, this sentence will stop these idiots.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Yeah!! Throw the bum in jail and take away his big angry Tonka truck! Wish more of these losers would get the shaft.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Although I don’t believe in violence, this is a lesson to truck drivers that their reckless driving really makes people angry, to the driver the long lesson is that violence doesn’t solve anything. The truck had moved over so problem was solved.

-9 ( +1 / -10 )

@Speed - Yeah!! Throw the bum in jail and take away his big angry Tonka truck! Wish more of these losers would get the shaft.

It is the truck driver who was assaulted.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

Sad to see this road rage rubbish happening in Japan. We have too much of it in Australia, and it's good to see the Japanese system being prepared to deal strongly with offenders.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

this is a lesson to truck drivers that their reckless driving really makes people angry

The truck driver didn't do anything wrong.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Not enough. Tailgaiting in and of itself is Dangerous. He should have gotten 10 years easy. This is the kind of behaviour that killed a Young family only a year or so back when a truck crashed into the car the road-rage idiot had forced to park.

Not enough.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

In any case, I hope the man going to prison has lots of time (and get to experience the kind of pain the truck driver did as well) to realize that, because of his actions, his "being in a hurry" has now been set back 3.5 years.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Some basic manners would be good for slow drivers too....do not block the fast lines even if you are driving at speed limit or 10 over especially in no traffic conditions. Move over to slow lanes (I think it is the law anyway in many countries). Truck drivers need to be disciplined too when they merge, shift lanes, don't text and don't drive in fast lanes (they are generally decent vs car drivers).

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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