crime

Two 15-year-old girls on minibike crash after police chase; one dead

41 Comments

A 15-year-old girl died and her 15-year-old companion was injured after the minibike they were riding crashed into a telephone pole in Hitachinaka, Ibaraki Prefecture, following a chase by a police car.

According to police, the incident occurred at around 7 a.m. on Sunday, NTV reported. The patrol car spotted the two girls on the minibike go through a red light at an intersection, make a right turn and then go the wrong way along a street.

As the patrol car approached the bike, it sped off. Police said the patrol car had its siren on and after a pursuit of about 600 meters, the bike crashed into the pole. The girl in front was killed while her companion sitting behind her suffered serious head injuries and was taken to hospital, police said.

Police said it is illegal for two people to ride such a bike and that neither girl had a license to ride minibikes. The girl riding in back was not wearing a helmet, either, police said.

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

41 Comments
Login to comment

Maybe you shouldn't chase girls on minibikes and run them into telephone poles. Jees. There are more serious crimes than teenage girls on minibikes in Hitachinaka I'm sure.

-47 ( +13 / -58 )

The article doesn't say it was a high speed pursuit. The girls had already gone through a red light and the wrong way down a one-way street. They might well have crashed without being pursued, or may have hurt a pedestrian as well.

Are the police just to ignore that? I would prefer they try to stop someone who is driving recklessly and endangering others. This is a very sad end, but nothing here suggests it was the fault of the police.

33 ( +36 / -3 )

This is a very sad end, but nothing here suggests it was the fault of the police.

That's right, and there is a very good reason nothing suggests it was the fault of the police - it wasn't. It's the responsibility of these two girls.

19 ( +20 / -1 )

It is just a traffic violation, not a major felony. The police should be held responsible for her death. Sue the city and the police.

-41 ( +8 / -47 )

There goes any chance of Ibaraki tackling its major bosozoku and other bike crime. It's not uncommon to see up to three helmetless kids on a scooter with no plates, and the cops normally do nothing.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

It is just a traffic violation, not a major felony.

And it's still something the police are responsible for policiting.

The police should be held responsible for her death.

The girl made the decision to not follow the laws. The girl made the decision to run. The girl was driving and crashed the bike. Pretty clear where the fault lies here (hint - who did you see named three times in this paragraph?)

Sue the city and the police.

Sue them for her stupidity, and for doing their jobs? Ridiculous.

19 ( +21 / -2 )

The responsibility lies with the scooter driver. She knew it's wrong to run a red light, she knew it was wrong to drive without a license, she knew she shouldn't have a passenger, she knew it's wrong to go the wrong way down a street, she knew she should stop when the siren and police warnings indicated she should, she decided not to pull over, she decided to speed off. There's a legal phrase "assumption of risk", It's her fault. Stop hating on the police for doing their job.

18 ( +20 / -2 )

I'm confused why there are comments blaming the police? It is their job to uphold the law, these girls broke several and might have endangered the public that the police have to protect.

Of course this is tragic, let's use it as an example for young people that motorbikes are not toys.

17 ( +19 / -2 )

Why do we have laws? To prevent needless accident and deaths. Children make mistakes, and none are more regrettable than the ones that result in death and serious injury. This is one of those. How awful, how needless.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Perhaps the police should update their routines and, as is customary in other places, realize that chasing kids on bikes sometimes do more harm than good. I am all for obeying the law and all that, but this was an accident waiting to happen. The crime wasn't so bad it deserved a death sentence, was it?

-18 ( +4 / -21 )

To avoid incidents like this, they need to Separate Road traffic watch from (criminal) Police force. I know some countries have already done that. Now, there is so much confusion in both the police force and people regarding some little traffic violations. People are so much scared of being treated as a criminal for this traffic violations, while some police treat ordinary people like criminals for not wearing a helmet. Even the police siren could make these young kids scare and response in an agitated way. Blame the system not the kids or the system abiding police.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Do not ride or drive withoutva licence. A very simple rule that everyone should follow. The police were just doing their Job as required of them by the law. The poor girls were endergering other peoples lives on the road. May she rest in peace though and quick recovery for the other.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

4 Good| Bad SenseNotSoCommonJan. 12, 2015 - 09:00AM JST

There goes any chance of Ibaraki tackling its major bosozoku and other bike crime. It's not uncommon to see up to three helmetless kids on a scooter with no plates, and the cops normally do nothing.

Maybe these were bosozuku in the making?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Whether I but any blame on the police or not depends on the distance of the "chase". Is 600 meters the distance of the chase or is 600 meters the distance from the light to the crash site?

There have been several incidents lately where police made things worse by giving chase. I am not sure in this case, so I am not placing blame on them at this point. But police have things like radios in their cars so that they can coordinate searches and lay traps rather than do high speed chases, and that is because high speed chases are dangerous to us all. Police should only chase long enough to be sure the perp will keep running and also to get a plate number and other description. Anybody who says chasing down two wildly fleeing teenage girls is in the public interest is kidding themselves.

I also have say I have some doubts about this story that the girls just blew threw a red light and down a one way while not even being chased first. One would think that with no helmets and no license they would not do so much to attract attention to themselves. On the other hand, no licenses and they ride without helmets? Okay, they may really be just that stupid and crazy!

-7 ( +2 / -9 )

In lesser developed parts of the world, the police tend not to care about traffic infractions. The dangers of driving and sometimes walking in those places shows. Pretty much every vehicle has scraps, missing paint and dings from minor accidents.

Enforcement of traffic laws is important for the safety of vehicles, property, and people.

I've seen a woman walking killed in KTM by a bus/motorcycle accident because the motorcyclist was driving crazy (normal for KTM) and forced the bus to swerve to avoid it - hitting the woman on the sidewalk.

The girls were behaving in a dangerous way, outside the law. The police were simply doing what is expected for a developed country.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

The crime wasn't so bad it deserved a death sentence, was it?

The crime wasn't so bad it deserved suicide.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Sad and tragic but I do hope they also nail the owner of the minibike for negligence.

Doubt that any of the girls owned it.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Facts: -Girl didn't have a license -Girl didn't have a helmet -Girls drove through a RED light -Girls drove down the WRONG WAY of a street.

Who's fault is the accident? The police? WHAT? Man some of you really want to blame the police for every single thing bad that ever happens. My train was late, blame it on the police. Getting old.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

1) Underage for riding a Minibike 2) No Helmets 3) 2 person on a minibike= illegal. Even on a bigger bike it is illegal for one year after getting the licence 4) Jumping a red light 5) Going against a one way 6) No licence 7) Possibly took/borrowed minibike without permission 8) No experience handling a minibike.

All in all 2 stupid teens and sad it took one life so far.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

It's incredibly sad that a young woman died and another was seriously injured, but it is ENTIRELY their own fault, and the police did nothing wrong. In fact, they did good by pursuing the girls, despite the bad result of the girls taking off. They had no licenses, no helmet (for the girl on the back), they went through a red light, they sped away from police, and they were riding illegally with both of them on the bike to begin with. Perhaps the girl in the back, hopefully after being sent to a reformatory when she recovers, will realize just how stupid their little joyride was.

I hope the police continue to chase such kids, and hopefully there are no accidents when they do. But I for one am sick of the kids on scooters flagrantly disobeying the law and police doing little or nothing. So, again, I'm sad to hear about the girls, but am glad to hear that the police were doing their jobs.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

It's sad that one person died but it was through her own willful negligence that it happened. Thankfully, no pedestrians were hurt or killed and hopefully this is a valuable lesson learned for the other girl and others possibly. I see no fault with the police and wish we had some like them where I live.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

The law was changed a year ago, meaning that cyclists can no longer ride on the right. Yet I watched last month as a guy cycled past a group of cops on road traffic duty (part of the winter campaign, ambushing violators of a stop line), with no light and against the flow of traffic on a major road.

If those girls had been required - when child cyclists - to obey the same rules of the road as cars, they might have thought twice about running a red, and going the wrong way down a one-way.

Instead, they behaved as Japanese cyclists, which is all they knew, after all.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

15 year olds are still children under the law in Japan. Is it be correct to chase children on the road thus provoking an accident? No, the answer is to alert other police in the area and follow the children (at a distance)until they can safely be apprehended......

-7 ( +1 / -8 )

If the police didn't give chase this would be a green light for every law braking person the green light to commit more crime. because they know that the cops are not going to do a solitary thing or give chase, then every one in the neighbourhood would be complaining about the crime rate, what do you want??

3 ( +4 / -1 )

I'm glad no innocent person was injured or involved.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

I nearly hit two boys like this last night going to pick up my daughter at the airport.It was dark they drove through a red light and werent wearing helmets.If you play with fire you might get burned!!

3 ( +3 / -0 )

I nearly hit two boys like this last night going to pick up my daughter at the airport

And if you did, you would have been the naughty boy, buachailldana, not them.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

because they know that the cops are not going to do a solitary thing

@Brian Wheway If you have not heard a hundred stories at least of police knocking on perps' doors the next morning, you simply are not paying enough attention for anything to put the fear of the law in you.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Police should Always impose the law. I live on a country where people always do as they like since police wont do anything about the. No helmet, no license, no light, no mirrors and non certified chinese motorcycles that tend to fail at high speeds. And here we have it. The country with the highest motorbike death ratio of the world.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Were the police wrong? Opinions may differ but I would say no. No one asked why would two young girls with their lives ahead of them to be so reckless. Also if the police would had stayed back and the accident still occured or caused death to others, we would be hearing how little the police did.All people are responsible for their action and hindsight is always 20/20.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

So often in this forum I have read comments where people would ask, "Where are the police?" Well, this time there were police and they were just doing their job for a change. Loss of life is very unfortunate, but don't blame the police as they had sirens wailing which should have been enough reason for the girls to stop.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

No, the answer is to alert other police in the area and follow the children (at a distance)until they can safely be apprehended......

The chase was only 600m from start to finish.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

15 year olds are still children under the law in Japan. Is it be correct to chase children on the road thus provoking an accident? No, the answer is to alert other police in the area and follow the children (at a distance)until they can safely be apprehended......

Provoking the accident? Wasn't the police's fault. Did you miss the fact that they had already ran a red light and was going down the wrong way of the street? The girl riding the minibike was already provoking an accident before the police attempted to stop them. Unless you don't think going through red lights and driving on the wrong way of the street is not provoking an accident?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

The patrol car spotted the two girls on the minibike go through a red light at an intersection, make a right turn and then go the wrong way along a street.

Police said the patrol car had its siren on and after a pursuit of about 600 meters, the bike crashed into the pole.

Sounds like these girls would have been seriously hurt or killed anyway without the cops chasing them.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Is it be correct to chase children on the road thus provoking an accident?

And how pray tell were they supposed to determine their age without giving chase?

3 ( +4 / -1 )

I think a lot of blame lies with the wording of the heading for this article. As much as the girls died after the police gave chase in a chronological sense the title also lends itself to a statement of causality; Implying that the girls died because the police gave chase.

Which is utter nonsense.

It boggles my mind that there are people who think the police have any fault in this situation. It boggles my mind that there are people who would even suggest suing the city/police over this.

It irrelevant that their initial crime was a minor infraction. The driver chose to evade arrest (more likely a fine) and endanger herself, her companion, and other members of the public.

It is regrettable that life was lost and injuries were sustained but pointing fingers at the police is ridiculous.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Their own stupid fault.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Police did their job. Well done. And that's why you don't ride a motorcycle at this age.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Stupidity kills literally... Im a girl who has been riding bikes since I was little but I knew how to ride a bike for one... for two i am not color blind and know red means stop. The girl driving knew she was doing something wrong which is why she ran. Lol She probably would have gotten them killed regardless of the police being there. The other girl was lucky they were there otherwise she could have died too laying there waiting for someone to notice them....

1 ( +1 / -0 )

"maybe" the two girls should have stopped--"jeez."

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites