Society

Police officer driving patrol car arrested over fatal accident in Sapporo

May 03 (Japan Today) - Hokkaido Prefectural Police have arrested a 61-year-old assistant police inspector on suspicion of dangerous driving resulting in death after the patrol car he was driving hit and killed a pedestrian on Sunday.

The incident occurred around 8:10 p.m. on a street in Sapporo Shiroishi Ward, Kyodo New reported. Noriyuki Kodate, an inspector in the police department’s Community Affairs Division, was arrested at the scene. There was no crossing at the site of the accident. Police quoted Kodate as saying, “I wasn’t looking ahead carefully.”

A witness said the victim appeared to be hunched over on the street just before the accident. He was rushed to hospital, suffering from severe head injuries, but died last Sunday.

Before the accident occurred, Kodate and another police officer was responding to a noise complaint in Shiroishi Ward, Sapporo City. The patrol car's red light was flashing but its siren was not on at the time of the accident.

Source: TBS NEWS

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