Police in Higashimatsuyama, Saitama Prefecture, have arrested a 58-year-old man on suspicion of dangerous driving resulting in death after the truck he was driving fatally struck a 23-month-old Vietnamese boy.
According to police, the incident occurred at around 5 a.m. Friday on National Route 407, Kyodo News reported. Police said Katsumi Kamata, from Ebina, Kanagawa Prefecture, is accused of hitting the child and not stopping to help.
A passerby saw the boy lying by the side of the road and called 119. The child was taken to hospital where he was confirmed dead on arrival.
Police said the boy's home is about 100 meters from the scene of the accident, and it is believed that the boy woke up early and wandered out of the house. His father had gone to pick up his mother from her night shift at work and when they returned, their son was gone.
An hour later, Kamata’s truck hit a guardrail about nine kilometers from the scene of the hit-and-run. At that time, he called police. During the investigation, police noticed further damage to the truck, and questioned Kamata about the hit-and-run.
Police said Kamata has denied the allegation and quoted him as saying he remembers hitting something but did not think it was a person.
© Japan Today
23 Comments
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Spitfire
So wrong and unfortunate on so many levels.......RIP to the tot.
Seesaw7
The child's parents are to be blamed
sakurasuki
2-year-old wondering around at 5 am without parent supervision?
People quickly shift blame to truck driver while overtime is common for truck driver in Japan. Less break will lead to sloppy driving.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-28/japan-fears-trucking-crisis-as-overtime-clampdown-looms
Philosopher's Stone
Why?
gogogo
Should have locked the door, really sad.
Mr Kipling
Parents left a baby alone in the house? No point charging them, they have already been punished enough.
Driver knew what he had done and deliberately bumped his truck to cover up the damage. 5 am is still dark, toddlers are very difficult to see from a truck. Driver hit the baby, panicked, then tried to cover up.
No winners here.
Lindsay
So many things wrong in this death. The parents left a not quite 2 year old kid at home alone who got out of the house and was wondering around the streets at 5:30 in the morning. That is a crime in itself. Yes, the truck driver should have stopped but the kid shouldn’t have been wondering around at that time of the morning.
Garthgoyle
So sorry for the poor kid. And sorry for the driver too, who now has to go through all this ordeal due to other parents' negligence.
smithinjapan
This is all-around tragic. The 58-year-old hit a kid he probably couldn't see, and who was wandering out alone after being left alone by his father. Kid is dead, parents are partly to blame, driver will be charged for hitting and killing the kid and running.
kochikame
Incredible that the truck was dammaged after hitting the very small boy...
So, if it wasn't dammaged, police would never find who killed the boy.
In that aspect, they were lucky.
Genki/Flash
Some people shouldn't have children!
Fighto!
Some driving skills. Hits a boy he claims not to gave seen. Then minutes later hits a guardrail. I guess it is hard to see things like children and guardrails?
Yes - and the poor boy should not have been able to get out of the house.
Rest in Peace to the little boy.
RINFO
IMO: What I dont also understand is the way these trucks all sizes zip down those narrow streets, and I see mothers with children standing and talking in those small road intersections blocking traffic and if you say something about it they get offended. (sic) and I also see them let toddlers, and children near them, walk freely in such streets. (sic)
therougou
Not only that, he called the police himself. He is either incredibly stupid or really didn't see the boy at all. Or maybe both.
purple_depressed_bacon
The truck driver should be charged with vehicular homicide and the parents for child neglect. What fools leave a barely 2 year old child home alone?
JRO
Parents don't need more punishment then they already got. In some cultures it's not really that weird to leave kids alone when they are asleep, even encountered it with Japanese parents. Of course I wouldn't do it for a minute myself though.
As for the truck driver, it's pretty obvious he was trying to cover things up by causing another accident.
obladi
Huh? The guy hit a guardrail after the accident. Doesn't that tell you something about the culpability of the driver? @Seesaw7
Jonathan Prin
We have plenty of Columbos and Sherlock Hilmes here.
Hotting a few kilos boy with a truck , you may rreally not feel it, especialy if just bumped or ran over, not hit in the front.
There is no detail too why he would call police after htting guardrail.
I also wondet how police can be 100% sure he "hit" the boy (obvious blood stain? No time for analysis)
owzer
Let's not blame the parents who left their 1 year old boy by himself. Definitely not do that.
Let's blame the driver who who most definitely should be able to see a 85cm boy at pre-dawn hours in a place totally not where you would expect one.
kohakuebisu
RIP
It was a major trunk road (kokudo) with two lanes in each direction.
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20240309/k10014384221000.html
If there is a risk of toddlers running out into the road at 5am, my advice to drivers would be to fit a dash cam.
Fighto!
Yeah, he also apparently couldn't see the guardrails just down the road in these pre-dawn hours.
Two collisions in the space of a few minutes usually indicates something about the driver.
owzer
Earlier commenters suggested he did it in an attempt to hide evidence of him striking the boy. That would suggest that it was not his driving ability (or inability) but rather a deliberate decision by a capable driver - a attempt to prevent punishment for something that is largely the fault of the parents.