Man sleeping on street arrested after head-butting police officer who woke him up

On his defense, I can be in a pretty piss-poor mood when awaken in the middle of the morning.

Like ontbetrail above.

I'm also a grumpy nightmare if woken up unprovoked.

I wonder if he was avoiding the Mrs...

Headbutted him?

How close was the cop to his head?

Shouldve used a stick or kicks instead, to wake him up.

Could have been accidental. Suddenly startled from a deep sleep and leaping up only to crash into a man leaning over him ?

Anyways, not a lot of details - any Video camera footage available ?

What would you base this interpretation on？

Where I'm from, we'd use the expression "slept in the street" to convey the meaning, "slept outside" all the time. I'd say it's a pretty standard expression in the UK - homeless people are often said to be "sleeping on the streets" - it doesn't usually mean in the middle of the road!

So he was in front of HIS HOUSE, but somebody called the cops…sounds like they knew who it was and don’t like him.

Uh yeah, can’t imagine why the neighbors wouldn’t like a guy who passes out in drunken stupors on the street and head butts anyone who tries to wake him up.

Totally normal behavior there, no need for the police to be involved.

A sleeping drunk is a happy drunk, until you wake him up.

What part of "sleeping IN THE STREET" are some of you missing? Unlike many places in the world, there are few Japanese houses that have nice wide lawns in front of their homes, for the owners to nap on.

So while it may not be a crime to sleep in front of one's home, passing out in the street is not only illegal, but potentially dangerous for both the drunk and any driver who may not notice a supine body in the middle of the road at 2 a.m.

The cops were merely doing their job, which is not only to arrest idiots, but also to protect them against their own idiocy.

Ken - I think most people would take "sleeping on the street" to mean just sleeping outside, probably on the footpath, not actually in the middle of the road obstructing traffic, and I think that is the meaning the article intended. I don't think it is illegal here, unless you are causing some kind of obstruction or other kind of nuisance - the police officers will wake someone up if they find them like that, more to check if they are OK than anything.

Also, Japanese news articles on the incident are using the phrase 路上 which is being translated into "on the street" in English in this article.

In that case I’ll agree, the literal meaning is probably true. As written in the article, it is ambiguous for a reader from the UK where the expression “slept on the street ” is generally used to mean slept anywhere outside - usually either inebriated or having being kicked out of the house for some reason!

How about, let the man sleep in front of his house. You knew he was drunk. He was happily sleeping with dreams of puffy white clouds in his head when this Police Officer placed his head so close to the sleeping gentleman and said: Wake Up! This Police Officer was a beginner at the role of Police Officer. Rule number one: Do not get close to sleeping drunks who are not bothering anyone. And especially if he is sleeping in the front of his house.

The police get a call of someone apparently sleeping in the street.

What do you really expect them to do?

He could be asleep, he could have been assaulted, he could have been ill...

Turns out he was drunk... Do you know how many drunks chock to death on their own vomit each year?

Just the police doing their job, drunk gets angry and headbutts one of them. He will say sorry when sober, maybe pay some compensation, maybe a fine...

37yo is already an age where a person should have long learned to hold his alcohol properly, and contrary to other comments he was not arrested just for sleeping on the street but because he used violence against the officer that woke him up.

arrested for what????? just because he was sleeping and a policeman bother him!!

at the end the sleepy guy becomes a criminal obstructing a police officer in the performance of his duty!

unbelievable!!! the policeman should be ashamed to make such fake declaration

More of a lip butt than a head butt.

Office friendly got a fat lip

arrested for what????? just because he was sleeping and a policeman bother him!!

Arrested for head-butting a police officer. I'm not aware of any country in the world in which doing that won't get you arrested.

C'mon people, the guy was sleeping IN the street! He becomes roadkill and the the driver gets arrested due to no fault of their own. If he made it that far, you'd think he'd be able to at least sleep on his property. No explanation for drunken stupidity.

Ken - I think most people would take "sleeping on the street" to mean just sleeping outside, probably on the footpath, not actually in the middle of the road obstructing traffic, and I think that is the meaning the article intended.

What would you base this interpretation on？

The word "Street" usually means "street", I don't think I've ever seen it used to convey the meaning of "outdoors" or "footpath" in a context like this.

But even if we assume it can have that meaning in some instances, I don't see how that would likely be the case in this one. The vast majority of streets in residential neighborhoods in Japan do not have footpaths, so if a person is passed out on the street in front of his house, in 90% of instances that would have to literally mean "the street" and not "on a footpath".

Where I'm from, we'd use the expression "slept in the street" to convey the meaning, "slept outside" all the time. I'd say it's a pretty standard expression in the UK - homeless people are often said to be "sleeping on the streets" - it doesn't usually mean in the middle of the road!

OK, but this is Japan which is quite different from the UK. The vast majority of houses here do not have a sidewalk in front of them, so being "on the street" here would normally mean "on the street", no?

Also, Japanese news articles on the incident are using the phrase 路上 which is being translated into "on the street" in English in this article. I don't think 路上 can be interpreted as meaning "outside", etc, it literally means "on the street".

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/330f925dd6613cdfa3f52a4d9eb150e9211f0d19

So he was in front of HIS HOUSE, but somebody called the cops…sounds like they knew who it was and don’t like him.

Why did the police become involved?

Is it a crime to sleep in front of ones house?