Four teenagers of U.S. Army personnel stationed at Yokota Air Base in Tokyo are to be arrested by Japanese police on charges of attempted murder, the Japanese media reported today.
The case involves an incident in which a 23 year old Japanese woman, returning home from work on her moped, suffered a fractured skull after she ran into a rope that had been strung across the road about three feet off the ground. The incident happened in Masashimurayama City less than a mile from Yokota Air Base at around 11:30pm on August 13th. The woman was traveling at a speed of approximately 18-25mph at the time, according to Seikei News.
An officer in a patrol car that had passed along the street around ten to twenty minutes prior to the incident reported that the rope had not been there, leading to the indication that placement was intentionally done in that short time period. The rope had been strung between a small pole on one side of the road and an electrical pole on the other.
The victim stated to police that she had seen several foreigners immediately prior to hitting the rope, according to 47news.jp. That testimony, combined with imagery from nearby surveillance cameras and information provided by people in the vicinity at the time, lead police to the group of four U.S. teenagers, made up of three boys and one girl between the ages of 15 and 18.
Due to two of the teenagers living on base, the police have asked for help from U.S. military police in transferring custody of the accused in accordance with agreements between Japan and the U.S concerning service members and their families accused of criminal activities. Once in Japanese police custody, the teenagers will be tried according to Japanese law.
Read more news from Japan by the Japan Headlines Examiner
Comments
Americans. No wonder we are hated all over the world. Even our children act crazy. Black soldiers raping the Japanese women aroused such wrath that the Japanese demanded our bases be removed. Now, American soldiers children are attempting to murder innocent civilians near the base. Loons.
What an indepth insight, John Taurus. Everyone knows that a fraction of a percentage of a group always represents the whole. I suppose everyone stateside should be lumped in with the entire prison population, right?
Despite the beliefs of the ingnorant, a few bad apples do NOT spoil the barrel. U.S. military personnel and their families are typically law abiding, decent people who actually DO represent their communities.
Not all tigers are man killers, therefore, in the future you must pet all tigers equally. You cannot judge a tiger before it maims or kills. If you do not pet all tigers equally, then you are a racist and guilty of the most unpardonable sin, prejudice.
I say we give the kids to Japanese authorities when Japanese authorities return all the US kids kidnapped to Japan by their non-custodial parent.
Let's apply some reverse psychology folks. How would american feel if the Chinese had military bases near Chicago, San Francisco, New York, city... and this incident happened?
Give those kids a trial in line with judicial principles. But if this was caught on CCTV, then thos kids should be hanged.
The worse thing is that Americans are so hypocritical that they are unable to find fault with themselves even when they are the ones who are obviously at fault to begin with. As can be seen from some of the comments here.
As Lee Iacocca once said, "F%#! the Japanese!"
First of all, these are allegations, something the Japanese are great at making for political and personal reasons. Most of the time, these cases are dropped, due to lack of evidence, or because it is just out and out false. That would never make the papers, though. Unless these children signed some sort of contract allowing the Japanese government to prosecute them, there should be no case against them. They are American citizens, not Japanese. They had no choice, as minors, where to live. Their military sponsors on the other hand, DID sign a contract that requires them and any they sponsor to abide by a host nations laws. They should be held responsible, not the children. The japanese commit so many heinous crimes on a daily basis, your toes would curl if you could read the Japanese fine print buried in the deepest recesses of the paper, where they hide things they must publish, but don't want to be read. Finally, just as in the states, there are helmet laws in Japan.
Hey, you know what?
There are also seatbelt laws in the US.
So I hope you wont mind if someone shoots you from an overpass while you are driving - cause you do have your seatbelt on, right?
Or how about someone setting up a bear trap in front of your house door? You have medical insurance, right?
Hell... why not just light your house on fire? You have insurance I am certain.
And do you really think that "I didn't choose to live here" is any kind of excuse?
I'm not from USA, how about I come to your house and club you and your family with a baseball bat - would I be free to go based on that logic?
As for the kids, procedure should be followed.
That is:
1. investigation;
2. trial if they are accused based on the results of the investigation
3. sentence them or set them free based on the trial
4. have them serve the sentence if found guilty.
REGARDLESS if they American, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Albanian or Martian.
I live at Yokota. I am a Military spouse. Nobody signed a contract to abide by anything. There are laws that apply to designated military personel, but not to thier dependants. When you sign up to be in the military, you don't get to choose where you live. And Michael, there is almost NO crime in Japan, because their penalties are so harsh. I don't know where you get your information, but I live and work here and I read the papers. My toes are not curling. We really like it here. It is very safe.
John Taurus says:
"Americans. No wonder we are hated all over the world. Even our children act crazy. Black soldiers raping the Japanese women aroused such wrath that the Japanese demanded our bases be removed. Now, American soldiers children are attempting to murder innocent civilians near the base. Loons."
I don't condone rape, violence, etc. but WHITE MEN ARE RAPISTS,MURDERERS, ETC.and 99% OF THE SERIAL KILLERS. Why is it that most White people ALWAYS bring race into dialogue if a non-white commits a crime? Not sure but I bet these "KIDS" are white though. F*ckwits... The kids as of Dec 6th have now been arrested.
re:
Get out! says:
"The worse thing is that Americans are so hypocritical that they are unable to find fault with themselves even when they are the ones who are obviously at fault to begin with. As can be seen from some of the comments here."
SO TRUE.
Children are children. Think as an adult and know that most kids do not go out to commit murder and probably do no even have it in their minds. To punish for injuring some one yes. It seems to me it may have been a joke that went wrong. Not done to intentionally to hurtr any one. I know nothing about Japanese law but as we all want to be treatesd justly I hope it is well investigated and not tried just as hated american kids.
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