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At around 4:30 a.m. on May 14, a woman took her life by jumping off a pedestrian bridge in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward. Upon impact with a truck driving beneath the bridge, the woman passed away immediately. However, the driver of the truck carried on for nearly 2 kilometers before noticing an unusual weight on the truck’s loading tray.
Common sense dictates that in such a situation, one would pull off at the side of the road, investigate, and alert local authorities upon discovering the body as failure to report a deceased body is constituted as a crime.
Instead of taking this course of action, the truck driver proceeded to dump the woman’s remains onto the side of the road. A taxi driver behind the truck, who is the case’s only eyewitness, called out to the truck driver, possibly wondering why he was stopped on the side of the road with a woman’s body.
Rather than relaying what happened to the taxi driver and working to contact the police, the truck driver merely told the other man that the suicide victim’s body was “a doll,” re-entered his truck, and drove away.
Many Japanese netizens were expectedly outraged at the heartless actions of the truck driver, voicing disgust and demanding justice for the treatment of the woman’s remains:
“It’s scary at how the truck driver is just way too cold.”
“I wonder if he was drunk, otherwise how else could he have done something so inhumane?”
“Is he working for a black company? Because it seems like he just wanted to get to work, and not reporting such a tragic incident for the sake of your job seems like the kind of bullshit a black company would instill in their employees.”
“No matter how you’re involved in an incident like this, the number one priority should be to report to the authorities first even if you’ll be late to check-in at work! I can’t fathom to think what this shipping company teaches their employees if this is what one of them does.”
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police is currently conducting a search for the truck driver.
If you or someone you know is in Japan and having suicidal thoughts, there are people here to help. Click here for more info.
Source: Livedoor News via Kinisoku
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© SoraNews24
19 Comments
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lostrune2
The truck driver's employer maybe won't look too kindly to him being late due to talking to the police about a mere suicide incident
kurisupisu
I’m not surprised at any lack of empathy shown by anyone in Japan; not all Japanese but very many show very little of it.
miss_oikawa
I think the whole story is BS. How can there be so many details when the only person who supposedly has given any information is the taxi driver??
Harry_Gatto
How do they know this for sure?
That is very strange indeed. The size and type of the truck has not been explained but the driver didn't notice the impact when the body hit his truck but noticed "an unusual weight on the loading tray" (whatever a loading tray might be).
No description of the truck (company name?) or the driver and the taxi driver didn't think to get the licence number.
commanteer
I think "died" is be the appropriate verb here. "Passed away" suggests something more natural and less violent.
If the taxi driver did it, why on earth would he immediately contact the police with a made-up story instead of just driving off?
Frank
Sorry, the P.E.T. urine bottles are not so much thrown out on the highways but the local 'freeways', where they [the truckies] use off-ramps to access factories and whatnot. The first red light after the freeway off-ramps are hot spots, these areas are walled and inconspicuous. I don't know why they do this, many things here are inexplicable. You're right there are plenty of convenience stores with toilets and waste receptacles around. I can perhaps understand they may hesitate to pull over, but they could maybe roll down the window and empty them at the lights then toss the bottle, or refill. This would probably be more environmentally friendly in the long run.
Phil Smy
I don't understand how we even know there was a 'truck driver'. The only witness is the taxi driver. Surely he should be a suspect? How do the police know he is not just making it up?
If he is the only witness how do the police also know that the body spent 2km on the truck's 'loading tray'?
Frank
This is the first time I have ever heard anyone else mention the dubious looking 'half-empty', yellow liquid filled pet bottles on the side of truck frequented roads. I had previously brought that up with Japanese people before and the horror of what I was implying was too much for most folk. So like every bone of contention here, I just let it go. I know what's going on, deadlines don't allow for breaks of any kind. I drive everyday on highways and personally I think a majority of truck drivers here are callous and selfish. Not to mention crap drivers.
nandakandamanda
Translation.
Within the parameters of the word 人形 (Ningyo) which the truck driver allegedly used, the English words 'mannequin' and 'dummy' would also fit as easily as 'doll'. The police reported that she was covered in blood, but perhaps it was still dark.
I guess 'doll' which was used above sounds lighter and emptier in English, making the situation even more unreal to readers of this article.
Either way you cut this cake his actions seem heartless.
Mocheake
Go ahead and be surprised but I am not. Most people don't really give a damn about you, more so if you are a total stranger. What this guy did was heartless and cruel but he is not an exception by any means. I wonder why the taxi driver didn't jot down the truck's license plate number. Hope he gets some real jail time if they find him but it probably won't do anything as far as rehabbing his mind. He is just a cold uncaring SOB. No shortage of people like that out there.
Do the hustle
うそ！ (ooso!)
He just couldn’t be bothered with the hassle of dealing with the cops. He was probably drunk.
borscht
I think that was implied with the
at the beginning of the sentence.
Boy Next Door
What do you expect from truck drivers here? Not surprised at all.
Bugle Boy of Company B
I can understand why the truck driver might be upset. Had the “doll” hit the truck and fell of, I might condone his continuing on, but the fact that he removed the body himself leaves no room for confusion as to the reality of the situation. He should have called the police.
Ken Holcomb
Considering the high number of liter size plastic bottles filled with what looks like urine, discarded bento boxes and other trash on the sides of the highway I drive often between Hiroshima and Fukuoka, it's not surprising this truck driver, like so many others feel the roadsides are their personal trash receptacles.
I understand driving "long haul" routes is hard work, I've driven trucks in the US, coast to coast. (Hence the quote marks around long haul above). But the arrogance and ignorance in driving skills and common decency demonstrated by many, not all, truck drivers here is truly disgusting.
Mr Kipling
I expect the truck driver was angry at the suicide for inconveniencing him on his way to somewhere. Now he has to stop, wait for police, make statements. All very traumatic and unnecessary.
The terminally sad should be more considerate of others....and maybe just choose life!
starpunk
Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought words like 'BS' didn't exist in Japanese.
This truck driver says the woman's body is a 'doll', that reflects something fishy already. What would you be doing with a doll in your truck?
I smell a rat here.