TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 25-year-old American national who plays for a professional football team over the alleged assault of a woman in Shibuya Ward during Halloween festivities earlier this month, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Nov. 5).
At around 3:00 a.m. on November 1, the unnamed player for the X-League’s Nojima Sagamihara Rise, based in Sagamihara City, Kanagawa Prefecture, allegedly struck the woman, aged in her 20s, in the chest during a dispute inside a bar in the Jinnan area.
According to the Shibuya Police Station, the player was drunk at the time of the incident. He was released shortly after his arrest.
“We would like to offer a deep apology to the victim, local residents and fans,” a representative of the Nojima Sagamihara Rise was quoted. “We will strive to prevent reoccurrence by thoroughly educating our athletes.”
The player has been indefinitely suspended from playing in games, the team also said.
From the night of October 31 until the morning of November 1, police arrested 13 persons for a variety of crimes — including groping and assault — during Halloween festivities that took place near JR Shibuya Station.
