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Ibaraki man crashes during police chase; 1 dead

Nippon News Network
A vehicle being chased by police in Ibaraki Prefecture slammed into another car, killing one person(Nippon News Network)

IBARAKI (TR) – A man was arrested on Saturday for crashing his car during a police chase into another vehicle, which killed a woman and seriously injured her husband.

Eisaku Tanaka, 33, was arrested on charges including unlicensed reckless driving for allegedly crashing into a vehicle and killing Rina Igarashi, 23, and seriously injuring her 22-year-old husband while being pursued by police on a road in the Higashidaira area of Kasama City, the Sankei Shimbun reports (Aug. 20).

Tanaka has admitted to the charges, quoted by Nippon News Network as saying he “fled because he was unlicensed.” His license was revoked in October 2003.

The car under pursuit was found abandoned at the scene, according to Kasama Police Station, which initially investigated the case as a hit-and-run resulting in death.

Police traced personal effects found at the scene to Tanaka, who is said to be unemployed with no known registered address.

The unmarked police car was about a kilometer down the road from the incident site when it spotted a vehicle with a blacked-out passenger-side window.

The police car put on its siren and pursued the vehicle to pull it over, but the suspect ran red lights as it fled.

The vehicle was able to slip out of sight, which is likely when it crashed, police said.

Police said “at this point in time, we don’t believe there was an issue with the way the pursuit was conducted.”