crime

3 pedestrians killed by car in Nagoya; driver, passengers flee

69 Comments

Police are searching for the driver and passengers of a vehicle that ran three red lights and killed three pedestrians at an intersection in Nagoya in the early hours of Monday during an attempt to escape from a police patrol car.

It is believed that four people abandoned the car and fled the scene on foot after the incident in Nagoya's Atsuta Ward. A mobile phone found in the Celsior, stolen in the city in June 2003, has a record showing it was used by a Brazilian, according to the Nagoya prefectural police.

At around 12:45 a.m., the police began chasing the vehicle in order to question the occupants after finding that the registration number of the luxury domestic car and its number plate did not match.

But the police gave up the pursuit about five minutes later at a location about 2 kilometers from the accident site after the driver began to drive recklessly, such as ignoring traffic lights, in an attempt to escape from the police car.

''There were no problems with our pursuit of the vehicle,'' a police official said.

The three victims -- Yoshitaka Nakano, 34, Makoto Yamamoto, 29, and Mariko Miwa, 29 -- were apparently waiting for the traffic light to change when the car ran onto the sidewalk at around 12:55 a.m.

© News reports

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

69 Comments
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i hope they catch the bastard.

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So I get the impression the car was left behind...so it shouldn't be too hard to find the driver at least. Although the Japanese police don;t have the best record in catching fugitives. Fortunately he'll probably turn himself in after the hangover wears off.

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How far do these geniuses expect to get? Unless the car was stolen.

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Gee whiz! What can one really say about this? RIP to the three killed and may the three who fled suffer the rest of their days. There is no debate about this: a car goes through a guardrail and goes onto a sidewalk and kills people, and the driver obviously did not die of a heartattack causing the car to go out of control, its totally, completely and all other ways the fault of the driver. And the two passengers are irresponsible for not making sure that driver never drives again.

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I'm with Johnnyreb. To the victims of this inhumane act: Rest in Peace

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"the driver of the vehicle and three passengers"

"may the three who fled suffer the rest of their days".

Fuzzy math?

Agree, catch them and burn them!

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guard rail didn't work?.... quality issue?

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Obviously drunk as a skunk. In such a crowded country (you can't even pick your nose in privacy in Japan) I do not see how they get away...

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Awful story. I bet drink was involved, and high speed. If the car can't be traced back to them then they may get away with it. I hope they have a conscience and turn themselves in. But I doubt it.

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happens a lot in japan these days

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Hopefully they'll trace the car to the owner, or somebody who knows the owner, and under the pressure of interrogation, he'll give up his buddies.

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Sad sad story. Sounds like a bunch of drunk young people to me. Shouldn't be hard to catch the driver.

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ahocchau: Obviously drunk as a skunk.

Who? You? It never ceases to amaze me how people jump to such conclusions based totally on their own imaginations! I guess it never occurred to you that they may have all been unlicensed teenagers who stole a car for a joy ride and decided to see how fast it would go around a corner?

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Road death toll in Japan is still pretty low compared to other industrialised countries. despite the appalling driving. Why RIP?

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I saw the same thing happen in Omiya about 15 years ago at 1AM..luckily, no one was hit, including me. As soon at the car rolled to a stop on the sidewalk everyone jumped out of the car and ran away...one guy was so drunk that he kept falling down. Maybe it was the driver.

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I'm sure one of the passengers with a guilty conscience will turn them all in. Happens often in Japan doesn't it?

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If it was a Toyota, they could always use the excuse of 'Unintended Acceleration'... otherwise they are in deep trouble.

But even if it was a genuine accident, however unlikely, all four of their lives are ruined.

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The TV news keeps saying 'gaikokojin'. Does anyone have any more info about this story?

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If the car was stolen then harder to trace. So many that have been drinking will be in such an incident & then run off to be caught a bit later on due to guilt & turning themselves in, or word got around about their accident.

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Neverknow2, you're right. I saw several vernacular news sources saying passengers in the car were "speaking in a foreign language." Of course it could have been Kagoshima dialect. I suppose the details will come out soon enough.

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dontknockit, I think drunk driving at 1am is more likely than teenagers stealing a car for a joy ride, don't you?

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Foreigners, Japanese, I dont care - I hope they live out the rest of their lives in pain, the majority of it spent in prison. scum.

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Luxury car? Could it be a bunch of Yaks out on the town? The plate and the car don't match up? Sounds like some shifty business.

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" As the registration number of the luxury domestic car and its number plate do not match, police suspect the plate was somehow replaced, they said. "

Wow! Brilliant thinkers at the constabulary.

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Nagoya Police have determined the vehicle (Toyota CELSIOR, four-door sedan, white) was stolen. The number plate (Gifu 301 つ59-12) is registered to a different vehicle. A taxi driver who witnessed the accident said; "The car went into a spin and crashed into the parking lot, and then 4 men who looked like foreigners jumped out and ran away."

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what a tragic story, may these people RIP

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Yeah, running with the foreigner thing on the tv at the moment. They must catch these people, but I'm really hoping this doesn't lead to the usual 'foreigners are dangerous' stuff in the media.

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Have they said / shown where in Nagoya it was? And - I have to admit that I thought foreigners, when I read this story this morning. Sad, but likely.

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Maria, they were saying it was Atsuta-ku. One of the victims also lived in Atsuta-ku.

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" As the registration number of the luxury domestic car and its number plate do not match, police suspect the plate was somehow replaced, they said. " yes. There's this magic gadget invented recently called "a screw driver" I know, I know I couldn't believe it either.

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And how long do they have to hide before their limitation expires????Long time to run and long time to put up with the guilt. They will be caught if they dont walk in off the street first.

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LOL...good one, buggerlugs!

There were 4 in the car so that raises the odds that one of them will crack and spill the beans to the cops. It's still unlikely, but here's hoping.

I also hope this won't result in "beware of foreigners" attitudes, allowing all folks to completely forget all the other stories of those who were hit and killed by cars this past year; many of them dragged for kilometers...by non-foreigners. That being said, still, whoever is guilty of this, foreigners or not, deserve everything they get when caught.

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I heard this was near the Rokubancho intersection. An area for of multi-nationalities including numerous Brasilian shops etc. Could very likely be non-Japanese involved. I don't care who it is, I just want them caught and punished.

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RIP people, wish there was better tremor surgery in Japan they might have made it.

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National Route Number 1 in Asuta-ku, Nagoya-shi...

http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/ann/news/web/index.html?now=20100201142918

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Sounds like these guys were criminals to begin with, having stolen this car and replaced its license plate in advance. Wouldn't be surprised if the reason they were speeding was they were trying to escape the cops (which they did). Ironic.

If we're talking the Brazilian district, we're talking mainly about Japanese born in Brazil. But I guess they could be mistaken as foreigners too.

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According to the Chunichi they were probably Brazilian

http://www.chunichi.co.jp/s/article/2010020190094233.html

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The TV news keeps saying 'gaikokojin'. Does anyone have any more info about this story?

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the police offer said that

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According to the Chunichi they were probably Brazilian

If they were Brazilian, then they are treated as special Japanese, according to immigration. They aren't treated as normal foreigners...

But first I'd like to know where everyone gets this idea that they were foreigners...?

Not one word in THIS story about their Nationalities... Only the deceased Nationalities are known...

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Taxi driver says they "looked like foreigners" from a glance at 1am.Close down all flights to Brazil

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Yeah, I just read the comments at yahoo.

Think of it like whenever somethings on youtube, most of the comments are by racists idiots. It's the internet.

But what is really disturbing is that the media is playing up the foreign aspect when this is a political hot-issue cause of voting rights.

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Police have found a cell phone in the car...

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The news just mentioned that there was a keitai left behind in the car and it appears to belong to a Brazilian- how they can tell the nationality of keitai owners is beyond me.

Yet again, this appears to be Japan passing off a crime by people with Japanese blood as foreign. Like when they show suspects on TV and their Japanese names are in katakana to indicate that they 'aren't quite Japanese'.

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I guess they can listen to and read messsages on the phone if it is not locked and that could indicate one of the 4 was of Brazilian origin. If people/police/TV news started speculating about a suspect`s race in New Zealand then there would be a massive outcry.

Stories like this reaaly emphasise the need to seize every day. 3 normal girls probably on their way home after a normal night out. Standing waiting at the lights and then bang.Wow

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This kind of accident happens all around Japan every day, but now because the suspects seem to be non Japanese, the slow news these days with idiots like Ozawa and Hatoyama, well this can sell more papers right? Those dirty gaijins going around Japan killing all of these innocent nice Japanese. This always sells more papers and magazines, not only is it racist but it is a good way to make more money too! RIP 3 dead pedestrians

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Even if the car is stolen one might hope that some fingerprints were left behind. A pity people were killed. You wonder what level of brain activity passes for intellegence in some people.

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fingerprints were undoubtedly left. The car had been stolen several years ago and the suspects left in a hurry. There are prints and they will likely be found. If they left a mobile phone, they will have left other things.

If sent messages on a phone were found to be written in Portuguese, it would be a logical jump to assume the suspects were of foreign origin.

My guess is that the case will be cracked rather easily, and based on evidence found in the suspects (stolen) car. Perhaps memory in the GPS system showing where the car has been, receipts or mail.

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furthermore, if they can get Portuguese (or other language) off the phone, you know they'll get numbers called and possibly the owner of the phone.

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And the Police will have their finger prints if they have been in and out of Japan in the past 2 years. Best bet for these guys would be an escape via a fishing boat.

This gaijin thing is interesting though. Question to ask is "Would it be such a big story if the victims were gaijin and the people in the car Japanese? If no then there is rascism at play and the media in particular should be censured. Is there a race Relations Conciliator in Japan enforcing this kind of thing? Also lucky that only 3 people were standing at the traffic light.Could have easily been a lot lot more

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I got a bit pissy with my husband tonight about this - how exactly does telling people they might be "foreigners" help? If they think someone might recognise one of them, give their background such as "White", "Black", "believed to be of South American descent"... Saying "foreigner" could mean a Japanese look alike such as Korean or Chinese. The guy on the news I saw said "I don't think it was English". Thanks. HUGE help. Grrrr...

I hope these guys are caught and I really, really wish Japan would admit their screw up with letting "Japanese blood" in with no real skills into the country. Same goes for crappy student visas and no checking that they are actually at school studying Japanese. Sorry but between the Chinese, the Brazilans and the Peruvians, is there all that much in terms of gaijin crime??

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You should have seen the arrows and maps and picts on the news tonight. They did not just drive over the curb. They did a missile strike like 9-11 into these 3 people. I am surprised the people were able to get out of the car and run away. Has to be a big blood trail.

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I saw that and have no clue how anybody could have gotten out and ran after the battering the car took. I'm for joyriding while drunk. The scene looked like a bomb went off.

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It was a hit and run so just find the perpetrators and be done with it. Who cares whether they are foreigners or not. It doesn't matter, they killed people.

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a police patrol car began chasing the vehicle to stop it for questioning, but gave up the pursuit about five minutes later at a location about 2 kilometers from the accident site because the driver began to move recklessly, such as ignoring traffic lights, to escape from the police car. ‘‘There were no problems with our pursuit of the vehicle,’’ a police official said.

?

The car had been stolen several years ago

?

I'm with Kitsune, just get them.

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My boyfriend told me there are rumours inside the Brazilian community that they were all Brazilians. He is angry and upset. Another crime they will all pay.

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Police should keep an eye on airports now. There are numerous examples of Brazilians fleeing hours after a crime was commited and when Police finally decides to arrest them, they are already out of reach.

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I can't believe a car got away from the police because they drove recklessly...

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If the messages were in Portugese, this would actually only confirm that they are probably 100% pure Japanese citizens emigrated from Brazil. Japan likes to talk about foreigner crime, while failing to mention that they're really talking about all the Japanese who returned to Japan from abroad. People that Japan begged to come back for cheap labor, in fact.

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Sounds like the police TRIED to do the right thing. Those huge chase scenes you see in Hollywood movies are now relegated to the past. Too many innocent people were getting injured because the police continued pursuing a suspect at high speed. Most police departments have a policy where if the suspect(s) speed off in a city or residential area, the police will call off the chase. If they can, they'll monitor from the air (via helicopter).

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the suspect left one cellphone in the car. police checked it and found some calls to Brazil.

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This morning's newspaper reports the owner of the cell phone is in his 30s and lives in Komachi City (a suburb of Nagoya). Police also found marijuana in the wrecked vehicle.

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I saw that and have no clue how anybody could have gotten out and ran after the battering the car took.

Good advertising for the solidity of Toyota cars in a crash.Have they caught these idiots yet? Surely everyone knows who they are by now,not turned up for work etc

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Why wouldn't they turn up to work?? If they've gotten away with it so far, living your life as normal is the way to go.

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KeyStone cops on the chase again!!!!!!!!

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as a brazilian, I'm ashamed with all those crime articles involving brazilian dekasseguis, but let's make it clear here.

The only guilties here are the "nikkeis", or japanese descendant brazilians. They get mental illness as soon as they step on Japan and realize they will need to overwork for more than 12h/day and lacking japanese language and culture knowledge, they will be not able to make friends,get along with anyone, for YEARS. That's why nikkeis scares me. Better keep distance from them, for real!

But don't hesitate to join REAL brazilians, and have a lot of fun,drinking caipirinha and playing capoeira.

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Around 1990, the Japan Immigration Control permitted nikkeijin along with their spouses to enter Japan as immigrant workers, kind like the US policy with cubanss,sparking a huge influx of guest workers from Brazil and Peru.

Nikkeis in Brazil are used to live an upscale lifstyle, resulted from the struggle and discipline of their relatives, Japan born immigrants fleeing from the war and famine in Japan.

Those who don't want to follow their ancestors examples and drop out school, go to Japan to "make easy money", and with the support of inescrupulous self-interested personnel service companies in Brazil,they get in Japan without the minimum knowledge of culture,language and how to get into the society,living for years inside a "nikkei guetto",without socialize with people. We can't blame people who don't care about japanese culture and stuff,but the problem here, is that once they were "the shit" in Brazil, they no longer accept to be saw as "ignorable monkeys" by people. So, they start to plunder,steal, and do whatever it takes to get money to buy expensive cars (even those unaffordable by japaneses) to try to garn some attention out there.

Beware of brazilian nikkeis!Black,white,blue,red its OK.

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‘‘There were no problems with our pursuit of the vehicle,’’ a police official said.

I wouldn't believe one word these keystones say. The chase started at 12.45 and ended at "about 5 minutes later" and 12.55 the car crashed into three people? These Japanese cops are like Ninjas when it comes to covering up their own mistakes.

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Hey lostinNagoya, I am not generalizing, off course,but as you say: "better safe than sorry". The probability of being robbed by a blond, tall, blue-eye brazilian in Sao Paulo is the same of being robbed by a blond, tall, blue-eye american in LA.

Actually I have never seen any article or news in Brazil about "japanese descendant convict". Maybe as in the US,half japaneses are considered hardworking,nerds,highest ranks in the best universities.

The problem begins when the "black sheeps" see a place where the police is not truculent as in their home country, and there is no fear to rob or "hit and run". Concluding,most of brazilian nikkeis in Japan are the garbage of the hardworking japanese community in Brazil. Pityfully,their "fame" affects all the brazilians' reputation. There are some japaneses that are afraid of americans because they heard about rape cases in Okinawa.

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