Truck thief gets away after crashing into five police cars in Chiba

Tuesday 07th July, 11:22 PM JST

CHIBA —

A man driving a stolen 3-ton delivery truck eluded police on Monday morning after a wild chase in which he crashed into five patrol cars, police said Tuesday. According to police, the truck was stolen from the parking lot of a Seven-Eleven convenience store in Katsushika, Funabashi City in Chiba Prefecture, around 2 a.m.

A witness reported the theft to police and a chase ensued through surrounding areas such as Ichikawa City. The truck crashed into five police vehicles in the process. After about an hour, the man abandoned the truck and fled on foot. Police said he was about 50, and was wearing a faded brown cap and white T-shirt.

News reports

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Latest 15 of 42 Total Comments Show All

bcbrownboy at 10:31 PM JST - 7th July

How fnckn embarrassing!
bbqtatsujin at 11:01 PM JST - 7th July

Oh Thank Heaven for 7-11!
bogva at 11:03 PM JST - 7th July

Triumvere, Thank you very much for the detailed explanation. I understand and accept what you mean but still don't feel comfortable.

Imagin police cars chasing and cutting the truck's path. I'm sure there were sirenes and light and it is expected that the truck driver would obey and stop when there is police car in his way. Obviously he ignored them and cleared his way crashing all those police cars. The way it is written it sounds he crashed into the cars unintentionally as you said. Just can't accept this way of expressing something more obvious!
noborito at 01:08 AM JST - 8th July

a 50 year old man ditched police? and anyone wonder why they normally pick on junior high school students riding two to a bike and the elderly. That's all they can handle.
ca1ic0cat at 02:39 AM JST - 8th July

Sounds more like pachinko than a high speed chase. Then again, if the guy was a pachinko addict he would have had a huge advantage.
Fadamor at 02:52 AM JST - 8th July

Well you see, after all five cars that were allocated to the prefecture were destroyed, there were no other vehicles that could chase him. He drove another 6 or 7 blocks away then walked away from the truck into obscurity.
WilliB at 03:02 AM JST - 8th July

LOL! That will teach the local constabulary to get back to what they do best..... harrasing kids and housewise who ride bicycles.

He demolished the local police car park and drove away. Only in Japan!
TokyoGas at 04:21 AM JST - 8th July

What was that old song...

At 7-11, the choice is 2. You gotta steal from them or they're gonna steal from you.

Can't remember the singer... If someone knows, please post! Thanks
cooeecobber at 11:08 AM JST - 8th July

Keystone Cops training video available now! Get your copy quick!
DarkKnightNine at 11:33 AM JST - 8th July

So a 50 year old fart was able to evade the J-Police on foot eh? What a joke!

Although I guess it wouldn't be too much harder in my home country, the good ole USA, considering most of the police are fat and overweight. But then again with 80% of the population being overweight, the suspect would more than likely be fat too.
TSRnow at 02:22 PM JST - 8th July

You'll never see a high speed chase here in Japan. The cops here I think are under too much pressure not to overdo things. They are "not" supposed to try to catch the suspect if there's even a hint of the guy going to extremes and getting himself or others killed.

You know, like the guns they carry. They're not supposed to shoot unless it's ABSOLUTELY necessary...
ratpack at 04:22 PM JST - 8th July

Umm...unclip the case...take it out...take off the safety... and shoot!!!but dont forget to aim first!!!
elbudamexicano at 10:41 PM JST - 8th July

The cops should just shoot down fools like this and teach the next fool that if he or she steals trucks, crashes them in to cop cars, well, time to be shot to death. These Chiba police should be ashamed of themselves!
telecasterplayer at 12:29 AM JST - 9th July

I guess Japan's TV networks haven't perfected the art of proper police chase coverage. The guy couldn't have gotten away with three news choppers following him around.
Klein2 at 09:08 AM JST - 14th July

People this is no laughing matter. Remember about two years ago a guy took a big truck down a shopping mall and killed five or six people.