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Kanagawa driver hits, injures 5 middle school girls

A car collided with a group of 7 middle school girls at an intersection in Kawasaki City
A car collided with a group of 7 middle school girls at an intersection in Kawasaki City

KANAGAWA (TR) – Five middle school girls were hospitalized with light injuries on Monday after they were hit by a car involved in a collision at an intersection in Kawasaki City.

Kanagawa Prefectural Police arrested Masato Nishimoto, 33, on suspicion of inflicting injury while driving a car for allegedly colliding with a group of seven middle school girls waiting to cross an intersection in the Tsuchihashi area of Miyamae Ward, at around 8 a.m., the Mainichi Shimbun reports (June 14).

Nishimoto, who was arrested on the spot, admitted to the charges and was quoted by NHK as saying there was “no mistake that the car collided with pedestrians.”

Prior to hitting the girls, Nishimoto’s car collided with another vehicle attempting to make a right turn. Authorities have opened an investigation to determine what led to the accident.

Police said Nishimoto’s car hit two of the students. Three others suffered light injuries from debris, such as glass. The 55-year-old male driver of the other vehicle also suffered light injuries.

“A white car was trying to turn right when a black car came flying in while blaring its horn,” a gas station worker near the incident site said. “There was this huge crashing sound and then I heard middle school girls screaming. One of them seemed to be lying on the ground, but it looked like the other students had their hands full scrambling to get out of there.”