Chiba woman killed by car while weeding in front of her home

Monday 29th June, 02:30 PM JST

CHIBA —

A 78-year-old woman was killed by a car while weeding near the road in front of her house in in Chiba’s Wakaba Ward on Sunday morning. According to police, the victim, identified as Fuku Sugita, was struck by a car being driven by Kosuke Kiyota, 21, who was reversing his car along the road.

Kiyota told police he was unaware that he had hit someone until his vehicle would no longer move backwards. He gave no explanation for why he had stopped his car and was moving in reverse. He said he panicked and left the scene of the accident, but a punctured tire kept him from traveling further than about one kilometer.

A witness to the accident called police who apprehended Kiyota. He has been charged with reckless driving resulting in death and police said he may also be charged with driving under the influence of alcohol.

News reports

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13 Comments

aerockyulhim at 03:05 PM JST - 29th June

Hooray for driving drunk in the morning! It's not like Japan has several options of public transportation to fall back on if you simply MUST get somewhere after drinking yourself stupid.
timeon at 03:10 PM JST - 29th June

so "the car was reversing along the road", and the woman was "weeding near the road". one of these statements it's not entirely true
TheguyNextdoor at 03:50 PM JST - 29th June

well lets see if they actually stick to the charges unlike the other case with the 3 nurses from Yokohama.
TheguyNextdoor at 03:51 PM JST - 29th June

3 nurses that were killed by a 19/20 yr old....
stirfry at 04:15 PM JST - 29th June

it seems like japanese are always leaving the scene of accidents
Monoflow at 04:54 PM JST - 29th June

It's always the same, they leaving the scene. What's all about these cowards in this country? Even if you feel panic or think about losing face, job or whatever... stay for whatever you have done, for god's sake...
kirakira25 at 05:20 PM JST - 29th June

Ah yes, that uniquely Japanese sense of honour and duty at work yet again.
Disillusioned at 05:30 PM JST - 29th June

police said he may also be charged with driving under the influence of alcohol.

Why 'may' be charged? I especially like how he stated he didn't know he hit something till his car would move. Wanker!
aerockyulhim at 06:27 PM JST - 29th June

A lot of people flee the scene of accidents here because of the way the laws are written. I think the blame is always 100% on the driver, and there's no grey area. Now, in this case, yeah, the guy is 110% guilty, but in other cases, even when the driver isn't at fault, they still get blamed and charged (even if the person is jaywalking or drunkwalking or whatever)
bcbrownboy at 08:39 PM JST - 29th June

This is not to excuse a drunk driver, but so many of these little old ladies and squat so low and weed so close to high speed traffic. I often expect them to get erased.
GW at 10:53 AM JST - 30th June

here in chiba I often see old women right on the ground weeding right on the edge of the road in some seriously dangerous situations, they are hard to see but I watch for them when passing residential area as they are so common this time of year.

As for the drunk in this blurb, lock the SOB up!
smithinjapan at 12:00 AM JST - 2nd July

"This is not to excuse a drunk driver, but so many of these little old ladies and squat so low and weed so close to high speed traffic."

Oh, please! What the hell do you think she was doing? weeding on the road??? The guy was DRUNK! He drove into HER, she didn't drive into the car with a hoe. The 'maybe the driver didn't see...' is getting tired, and might I add it's getting tired daily.
elbudamexicano at 06:49 AM JST - 4th July

Many Japanes streets and roads are very, very narrow, even if you are not drunk, they are hard to manage, and a narrow road here that should be a "ONE WAY STREET" anywhere else in the world, is something like "playig chicken" as one of my visiting Mexicans friends so observed, and if this 21 year old was drunk, and trying to go in reverse, the perfect combination for a horrible accident! RIP obaachan!