An unemployed 52-year-old man turned himself in at a police station over a hit-and-run incident in Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, in which one woman was killed and another woman seriously injured, police said Sunday.
According to police, the hit-and-run occurred at around 1:35 a.m. Saturday on a national highway. The dead woman was identified as Emiko Nakano, 48. The other woman, Ritsuko Wakabayashi, 44, suffered serious injuries but her condition was stable Sunday.
Police said that after the two women were hit by a car that kept going, Nakano was then run over by a dump truck and another car, which both stopped. The truck driver called police, saying he had hit someone lying on the road.
Police found traces of a third vehicle at the scene and examined street surveillance camera footage to try and identify the vehicle that struck Nakano and her friend.
On Saturday afternoon, Tomoyuki Tamura went to a police station and admitted hitting the women with his car. Tamura, who was charged with reckless driving resulting in death, was quoted by police as saying he had been drinking and fled the scene because he was scared.
© Japan Today
22 Comments
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AdamP75
Piece of garbage, not even man enough to call police and stay at the scene. I hope you rot in prison and feek guilty every day for the rest of you life, tamura.
Do the hustle
Of course, the drinkdriver that ran them over is scum, but the dead woman was run over by two more vehicles. How does one not see a body in the middle of the road?
Strangerland
It’s dark in the middle of the night. She may not have been in the road anywhere near any streetlights. The body was around a corner without though time to react etc. All sorts of reasons.
Slickdrifter
He stepped up and turned himself in.
Though the crime was horrific and the loss tragic. One survived.
One is going to prison. Nakano san is gone and may she rest in peace. Everything is there for closure for the family.
Tragic. Do not drink and drive ever.
Do the hustle
Thanks for those totally obvious scenarios. However, as it states in the article, it was on a national highway, which usually have street lights and do not have sharp corners. There is another scenario you didn’t mention. Perhaps the other two vehicles that hit her were distracted by unicorns.
Goodlucktoyou
Didn’t know you could be unemployed and own a car and drive at 1 AM After drinking probably in an Izakaya
Strangerland
Ok, and what about this specific location? Did it have lights and was there no corner?
forzaducati
In this case, it concerns a narrow 2 lane prefectural road in the middle of Chichibu city (県道73、 上町2丁目), where the speed limit is less than 60Km/h. Road is straight as an arrow, lined with homes and businesses and has lighting. From the chalk marks the cops drew on the tarmac, the women ended up in the middle of the road, at a crossing with traffic lights. We don’t know how the initial accident happened, I’ll leave that to Strangerland (just kidding), but the 2nd and 3rd drivers should have definitely seen something on the road. Unless one is blind or driving like a maniac, one would normally be able to see what is ahead. Make that what is way, way ahead.
Strangerland
Twenty years ago, they didn't treat it as seriously as they do now. I had an ex-girlfriend whose dad got busted drunk driving a few times. If I recall, she said they fined him like 300,000 yen each time and that was it.
Cochise
Drunk driving rare here? ABout as rare as seeing someone in a suit sprawled inebriated on the floor of the train or on the street, or bent over vomiting.
In other words, it's simply that it wasn't/isn't reported much.
Goodlucktoyou
We have to differentiate between being drunk and over the limit. If you drink just 1/2 a glass of beer, you are over. Even with food.
2 effects of the stupid law:
After 1/2 a glass, you are over so drink as much as you want and hope you don’t get stopped.
Take a taxi.darknuts
So are all three drivers going to jail?
harry1959
The most important thing is ,people should be aware at all times when crossing roads ,looking both ways while crossing that's the way to stay alive .I perp my horn or shout at folk that are using cell phones while crossing
hooktrunk2
If you check out the location that Forzaducati provided it looks straight as an arrow with businesses pretty close to the street. At least there are curbs. Many mountain highways don't and as a driver you have no room to make mistakes. The lights look like they would be very dim at night. Not like the new LED lights they are putting in parts of Tokyo that can make the street nearly like daytime. Where the pin dropped in Google maps, it looks like the road was repaired. Perhaps the truck driver thought the woman was one of these. Who knows.
Sad all around.
Chip Star
If that was his goal, you'd think he wouldn't have mentioned drinking.
Michael Machida
Thank goodness.
sir_bentley28
Nakano was then run over by a dump truck and another car, which both stopped. The truck driver called police, saying he had hit someone lying on the road.
I wonder what happened to these two? Though they stopped and did the right thing, I wonder if they were in trouble? I really hope not because the women lying there were not a result of the truck drivers' fault.