Truck thief gets away after crashing into five police cars in Chiba

People this is no laughing matter. Remember about two years ago a guy took a big truck down a shopping mall and killed five or six people.

I guess Japan's TV networks haven't perfected the art of proper police chase coverage. The guy couldn't have gotten away with three news choppers following him around.

The cops should just shoot down fools like this and teach the next fool that if he or she steals trucks, crashes them in to cop cars, well, time to be shot to death. These Chiba police should be ashamed of themselves!

Umm...unclip the case...take it out...take off the safety... and shoot!!!but dont forget to aim first!!!

You'll never see a high speed chase here in Japan. The cops here I think are under too much pressure not to overdo things. They are "not" supposed to try to catch the suspect if there's even a hint of the guy going to extremes and getting himself or others killed.

You know, like the guns they carry. They're not supposed to shoot unless it's ABSOLUTELY necessary...

So a 50 year old fart was able to evade the J-Police on foot eh? What a joke!

Although I guess it wouldn't be too much harder in my home country, the good ole USA, considering most of the police are fat and overweight. But then again with 80% of the population being overweight, the suspect would more than likely be fat too.

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What was that old song...

At 7-11, the choice is 2. You gotta steal from them or they're gonna steal from you.

Can't remember the singer... If someone knows, please post! Thanks

LOL! That will teach the local constabulary to get back to what they do best..... harrasing kids and housewise who ride bicycles.

He demolished the local police car park and drove away. Only in Japan!

Well you see, after all five cars that were allocated to the prefecture were destroyed, there were no other vehicles that could chase him. He drove another 6 or 7 blocks away then walked away from the truck into obscurity.

Sounds more like pachinko than a high speed chase. Then again, if the guy was a pachinko addict he would have had a huge advantage.

a 50 year old man ditched police? and anyone wonder why they normally pick on junior high school students riding two to a bike and the elderly. That's all they can handle.

Triumvere, Thank you very much for the detailed explanation. I understand and accept what you mean but still don't feel comfortable.

Imagin police cars chasing and cutting the truck's path. I'm sure there were sirenes and light and it is expected that the truck driver would obey and stop when there is police car in his way. Obviously he ignored them and cleared his way crashing all those police cars. The way it is written it sounds he crashed into the cars unintentionally as you said. Just can't accept this way of expressing something more obvious!

Oh Thank Heaven for 7-11!

How fnckn embarrassing!

regarding smashing into police cars and nearly killing police officers, i think MC Ren, Eazy-E, Ice Cube & Dr. Dre might have something to say on the subject.

Japanese Life Imitating GTA, Part 567

Gotta have that 7-11 Bento!

how the hell can a 50 year old outrun young fit cops?

oh wait, j-cops, my bad

he prolly strolled away

I doubt this guy's going to turn himself in.

of course he got away, we're talking about the Japanese police here.

Bad Ojisan, bad Ojisan, whacha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?

Let's say this one won't make the next episode of "Coppsu"

Haha, good on him! hopefully less coppers will be driving around terrorizing peaceful higoashi kanto speeders.

najack:I always see police and news choppers filming chase scenes in the US so why not here? He'd never get away.

Because you have been brainwashed by "Cops"? The bad guys never get away on that propaganda ride, but let me assure you, the choppers are not always out in real life and yes, the bad guys do sometimes get away.

boqva,

In my opinion "crashed into" holds more of a connotation of unintentional collision rather than, say "rammed" which is clearly intentional. "hit" or "smashed" feels more neutral. However, none of the options you presented are more "correct" than any other... all of them have roughly the same denotation (that is "collision") so any of them can be used. Furthermore, the story does not make it clear whether or not the driver intentionally collided with the vehicles. I suppose that "crashed" also can carry the connotation of a major collision (the kind that stops a car in its tracks), but once again that is not part of the denotation and the article does not give details into the severity of the collision.

johnnyrep,

Relax, son. There's no call for telling the guy off like that.

"I always see police and news choppers filming chase scenes in the US so why not here? He'd never get away." because here it is way to rare

I always see police and news choppers filming chase scenes in the US so why not here? He'd never get away.

Not native English speaker but always get confused from the use of the words here. "truck crashed into five police vehicles" Isn't it more correct to say simply "truck hit the police cars" or "truck smashed..." etc. Anybody can comment on this?

we get enough of this at work every day. ask your english teacher.

I hope nobody was hurt. What kind of cars were they driving? Surely, follow the truck at a reasonable distance until the old man pulls up to a petrol station is more sensible? I suspect the Funabashi City cops deliberately smashed the cars so they will get the new funky Lexis ones as a replacement...

Sounds like something from "The Blues Brothers." lol

I think he heard they are casting for a Japanese remake of "Blues Brothers."

Not native English speaker but always get confused from the use of the words here. "truck crashed into five police vehicles" Isn't it more correct to say simply "truck hit the police cars" or "truck smashed..." etc. Anybody can comment on this?

If it was the police cars crashed into the truck its easier to imagine but it is the other way if you know what I mean ;-)

a 50 yr old guy outran the j-cops...typical

thats because he probably wasnt wearing any shoes!!

a 50 yr old guy outran the j-cops...typical

where did he think he was going to run away too ? hahaha ...

Those mecha-mecha people in their 50s do not give a damn.

hahaha awesome, i bet they were like.. "how the hell do we stop a 3-ton truck with our little cars!?!?"

man, I would pay to see this

This thing is straight from Grand Theft Auto! Love it! So, did he clear his mission?

Nice feel-good story for a Tuesday afternoon. Pwned!

A regular crime for once, quite refreshing. I'm surprised he didn't go home, smother his children and strangle his wife and then turn himself in. And as for you J-cops...gambatte ne!

urgh. this part of chiba is like the armpit of kanto

LOL! Drunken joy ride anyone? And you let him get away? I'm sure those cops will be hearing about this at the station for a long time...