TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested an office worker on suspicion of dangerous driving resulting in death after he fatally struck an elderly pedestrian while heavily intoxicated in Koto Ward, reports TBS News (July 29).
Koichi Hishiyama, 62, is accused of plowing his passenger car into 81-year-old Mitsuko Kato as she walked across a pedestrian crosswalk on a green light on the 26th of this month. Kato later died from her injuries.
Following his arrest, new details emerged regarding Hishiyama’s severe intoxication prior to getting behind the wheel. The suspect admitted to investigators that he had been bar-hopping across three different establishments before the fatal collision.
“At the first bar, I drank three highballs, sake, and tequila,” Hishiyama told police. “I drank more highballs at the second and third bars, but I don’t remember exactly how much.”
Immediately following the crash, a breath test detected an alcohol concentration exceeding 0.5 milligrams per liter in the suspect’s breath, well over the legal limit.
The case marks a legal milestone in Japan. According to investigative sources, it is the first time nationwide that a suspect has been charged with dangerous driving resulting in death since the revised Act on Punishment of Acts Inflicting Death or Injury on Others by Driving a Motor Vehicle—which introduced strict numerical thresholds for alcohol impairment—went into effect.
