CHIBA (TR) – East Japan Railway has revealed that it may seek compensation from a 51-year-old man who caused train services in Chiba City to be delayed for nearly 3 hours after he climbed a utility tower at a railway station in attempting to evade a groping allegation, reports Fuji News Network (June 4).
According to JR East, a woman accused Shinya Ieda, a company employee living in Funabashi City, of groping her inside carriage of the Sobu Line upon its arrival at JR Makuharihongo Station at around 9:10 p.m. on June 2.
As station staff waited for police to arrive, Ieda fled from an office and leaped onto the track bed at around 9:50 p.m. He then climbed an electric supply tower.
About two hours later, rescue personnel coaxed Ieda to surrender. He was subsequently arrested by officers from the Chiba-Nishi Police Station on suspicion of trespassing. Police sent him to prosecutors on Monday morning.
The incident caused 31 trains to be delayed for nearly three hours, inconveniencing about 30,000 passengers, JR East said.
JR East is considering seeking compensation for the delay to its services. “We will make a judgment after carefully listening to the opinions of experts, including lawyers,” a representative of the railway operator said.
Such an action is not without precedent. According to the network, another railway company requested payment of more than 7 million yen from a person suffering from dementia following an accident.
