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A man died after the truck he was driving crashed into a koban (police box) in Chofu, Tokyo, on Friday night.
The incident occurred at around 8:30 p.m. According to police, the small dump truck was driven by a man in his 50s and there was a youth in his late teens in the passenger seat.
There were two police officers in the koban at the time but neither of them were injured. The truck driver suffered severe chest injuries and died in hospital about 2 1/2 hours later. His passenger suffered light injuries.
Witnesses said the truck, which was carrying a load of sand, veered over the center line before the crash. Police believe the driver lost control of the steering wheel and will question the passenger to try and find out what happened.
© Japan Today
9 Comments
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Yubaru
Let me guess... alcohol perhaps?
Next guess, no follow up perhaps?
smithinjapan
Chest injuries... like being flung forward into the steering column because you don't have a seatbelt.
mountainpear
Let me guess... alcohol perhaps?
Next guess, no follow up perhaps?
Maybe he fell asleep...Maybe he had a stroke...Or a heart attack...Luckily no one else died!
englisc aspyrgend
Strange set of circumstances? Normally the driver is the least injured as they are braced against the steering wheel, unless the crash was sufficiently severe as to drive the steering column in to his chest, to which case I would expect the passenger to be more severely injured? Not knowing the dimensions or construction of a koban so unable to assess the likelihood of injury to the police in an accident sufficiently severe as to impale the driver.
Very odd, a lot left unexplained in this piece.
Gaijinjland
The guy probably had a stroke and lost control of the wheel.
Desert Tortoise
Imaging being one of the police officers in the Koban when the truck hit it !
Desert Tortoise
Or perhaps the drivers side of the truck hit the corner of the Koban caving in the front of the cab at the drivers position leaving the passenger side more or less unaffected? Hard to say without more information and photos.
sf2k
that's a full service koban