crime

Woman arrested for attempted murder after driving off with husband clinging to car hood

24 Comments

Police in Yokohama have arrested a 37-year-old woman on suspicion of attempted murder after she drove a car with her 38-year-old husband clinging to the hood. The man eventually fell off and suffered serious injuries, including a fractured skull. 

The incident occurred at around 2 a.m. Tuesday in Totsuka Ward. According to police, the woman, Natsuko Makino, a caregiver from Yokohama City’s Totsuka Ward, has denied the charge, claiming that her husband jumped off the hood himself and was not shaken off by her driving.

Police said that Makino consulted once with them in mid-July regarding domestic abuse by her husband. However, at the time she said she did not want to file a criminal complaint.

On Tuesday, Makino said her husband called her to come to his home in Asahi Ward and then the two got into a heated argument. When she left and started to drive off, her husband at first stood in front of the car. Then he jumped onto the hood. Makino drove for about 4.1 kilometers while her husband desperately clung to the hood before he fell of jumped off.

Police said they will wait until Makino's husband recovers so they can hear his side of the story.

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24 Comments
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was not shaken off by her driving

The person driving the vehicle does not seem to have been acting rationally.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

Sure does seem to be a lot of these kinds of stories recently. What is it that people can't resist hanging on to a car that's racing away? We used to train dogs not to do that.

And I wonder why the driver is always arrested right away? If I felt my life was being threatened by someone, I am not going to stop for them just because they jumped on the hood of my car. In fact, that sort of behavior would just make me fear their intentions more.

13 ( +16 / -3 )

I'm not saying what she did was or wasn't right I would just like to know what the proper reaction is for someone in a car being assailed by some violent maniac on their hood? Dignified face to face conversation? It isn't like he was invited by her to jump on her car. Does he not also get charged or is jumping on the hood of someone's car all fair game in terms of the law? Stalkers take note...

13 ( +16 / -3 )

It seems this joker got what he deserved for being a violent thug towards his wife - soon to be ex-wife hopefully.

3 ( +10 / -7 )

Textbook false accusation. 40 year prison term for attempted murder. No chance of parole. Plus 10 years for false accusation.

-7 ( +3 / -10 )

Why does it matter whether the man jumped or fell? Either way, it’s attempted murder, reckless driving and operation of a vehicle with a husband on the hood...

-9 ( +3 / -12 )

denied the charge, claiming that her husband jumped off the hood himself and was not shaken off by her driving

I love her defense.

Why does it matter whether the man jumped or fell? 

@sourpuss

Attempted murder and reckless endangerment are two very different crimes. One has intent which means it is more serious. The other doesn’t have intent. In the US attempted murder is a felony that comes with jail time. Reckless endangerment is a misdemeanor that doesn’t come with mandatory jail time.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Damn! The guy could very well be a louse but she didn't even stop for four kilometers. Wonder how she would react if a patient gets on her nerves at work?

1 ( +5 / -4 )

If it can be proven that he was acting violently towards her I think she should not have the book thrown at her. But even so you can’t be driving around with someone clinging to your car. She should have waited until he got off - eventually he would have. I assume that she was safely locked inside and was in no immediate risk.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

 If I felt my life was being threatened by someone, I am not going to stop for them just because they jumped on the hood of my car. 

In the woods or the desert, not knowing if the persons have weapons, tools to open my car or what, I understand your logic. In Yokohama, doing the same over 4 km (half of the city), it is pure road rage. It's a miracle she did not hurt anyone else as even at 2 am, there are people in the streets. She could have stopped, honked, even used her phone, to get help before he'd get a chance to get in the car.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

I wonder what made her so angry to her husband or she trying to run away from him?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

If he's a violent husband he won't press charges. Abusive husbands need their victim close at hand. She should immediately get a restraining order and get to a shelter

Sounds to me like SHE is the violent one. Driving for 4 kilometers and having someone hanging on to your hood is not normal.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Yubaru - Sounds to me like SHE is the violent one. Driving for 4 kilometers and having someone hanging on to your hood is not normal.

Unless she felt her life was threatened, of course.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Oh here we go ! Feel sorry for the woman !

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I really don't get why people would cling onto an fleeing car. Are they expecting their weight would slow down the car or break through the door or window like a terminator? This guy has anger issues, if the woman was outside that car, things would have probably been more ugly

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I really don't get why people would cling onto an fleeing car. Are they expecting their weight would slow down the car or break through the door or window like a terminator?

I would suspect it is an act of control. He was likely expecting her not to respond as irrationally as he. He was using force to control her. Typical behavior of a domestic abuser. And now that force and right to control looks like it could be sanctioned by the state (depending of course of the judgement).

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Sounds to me like SHE is the violent one. Driving for 4 kilometers and having someone hanging on to your hood is not normal.

Perhaps as normal and flinging yourself onto the car of someone who is trying to get the hell away from you?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Wow a lot of finger pointing going on in the comments above. They are living apart so in my opinion she never should have gone to his home at all. She should have requested to meet during the daytime in public and she should have had a friend as an escort / witness in case anything went wrong during the meeting.

Now this guy stands in front of her vehicle then he jumped on the hood of the car as she started to drive off  - not a smart thing to do. For her personal safety her driving away was the right thing to do, The wack job didn't have to jump on the hood of the car, it's pretty obvious he has a temper and if she would have stayed this news article may have been about a husband killing his wife.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

You cannot let someone off for driving with another person clinging to the vehicle. There is far too much risk of an accident involving another car or bystander.

In that situation you lock the car and call the police. If there is escalation, you open the window a little and scream for help. Screaming for help in the middle of the night is far far less meiwaku than reckless driving.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Makino drove for about 4.1 kilometers while her husband desperately clung to the hood before he fell of jumped off.

Either she's a terrible driver, he has monster kung fu sticky grip, the car sucks, or possibly all three.

If you can't shake a maniac on your hood for 4 KM, you're doing it wrong.

On the other hand, if you can keep a solid grip on a smooth surface like that for 4 km without trouble, I need a wide receiver for my football team. Come play some time!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

In that situation you lock the car and call the police. If there is escalation, you open the window a little and scream for help. Screaming for help in the middle of the night is far far less meiwaku than reckless driving.

Call the police? Scream for help? You don't live in Japan do you?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

In Japan, "reckless endangerment of life" rounds to "attempted homicide with conditional intent" and thus is treated as a homicide.

This is a tricky one legally. The Tabestand is met, so she should definitely be investigated. However, my sense is that it is inexigible to ask the woman to take the risk of just not moving in light of all the possibilities in the few minutes before the police can come (and sometimes, police can not arrive for a long time - a fact we Hong Kongers just learnt last week in Yuen Long's subway station). I'll also say that the man's life value is reduced by "consent" as he tries to hug a car running away, and further cuts if the whole incident is his fault. Might even be self-defense.

It is also possible, following German jurisprudence (Japanese law is heavily German influenced) of setting a high evidentiary bar for conditional intent for homicide, and thus downshifting it to some kind of negligence charge that will only count the actual damage.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

So little information here. I demand the whole story.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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