crime

Concerned mother calls police on saw-wielding man… who was just doing some landscaping

19 Comments
By RocketNews24

One Shiga Prefecture man found out just how bad the seemingly mundane task of cutting a few branches could get when a mother, picking up her child from a nearby preschool, spotted the saw-wielding, 80-year-old man hanging out in some trees and promptly called the police.

Apparently Shiga Prefecture is an extraordinarily safe place to live, because not one, not two, but 70 police officers, who were apparently having a pretty slow day, and even a search helicopter, swiftly responded to the woman’s distress call.

Now this might have ended badly if the poor old guy, who was allegedly taking it upon himself to prune some cherry trees in the area to prevent caterpillars from nesting on them, had panicked or if the police could even find the guy in the first place.

According to news reports, the landscaper just kept going on with his work while the police milled about beneath him, probably looking around for a guy that looked more like this, without even realizing that the potential knife-wielding maniac might have been the elderly guy in coveralls just above their heads.

Instead of capitalizing on the police’s unwariness, he actually called down to the gathered police to ask what all the fuss was about.

It turns out neither the old man nor the police suspected he was the cause of all the trouble, probably because guys pruning trees is a pretty common sight in Japan and, given that you can’t just punch the things until they shake all their branches loose, hand saws are kind of a requirement for the task.

Source: Kyoto Shimbun

Read more stories from RocketNews24. -- Serial Tree Killer on the Loose in Western Japan, 14 “Sacred Trees” Poisoned So Far -- Want to Grow a Bonsai Tree? There’s an App for That -- Driver charged after man who refused treatment is found dead a month after road traffic accident

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19 Comments
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Tell me about it. I live in darkest Chiba and when I turned my iphone torch on in an unlit road suddenly, a guy walking his dog called the cops. Of course being a non Japanese I was interrogated, gaijin card checked blah blah. Not one of my best days I can tell you.

15 ( +17 / -2 )

That was a good laugh for the day.

I meet a lot of people in Japan with a ridiculously obsessive fear and suspicion of perceived threats like this 'dangerous-looking' tree pruner carrying around a saw. Every neighborhood has at least one, the resident who obsesses over the garbage collection point and is always seen bringing a concern to the local police at the nearby koban.

I could easily see my significant other calling the police in a case like this — she has an aneurism every time a construction worker or taxi driver stops outside our house, thinking they might be sizing us up in preparation for a break in.

12 ( +12 / -0 )

Send her the bill for the helicopter fuel......and a gardener.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

I get just about the same (over) reaction almost every time I get off the train at my home station. I mean, really, who kills anyone with a handsaw, lady? Then 70(!) cops show up and still can't find the guy? This is so incredible on so many different levels that it's ridiculous.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

you can’t just punch the things until they shake all their branches loose

Minecraft reference? :p

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Pretty hard to seriously hurt someone with hand saw. Even harder if you are 80 years old. I've noticed Japanese housewives get panicked about the silliest things, while sometime completely oblivious to real dangers.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Finally something to laugh at in the crime section.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Now this might have ended badly if the poor old guy, who was allegedly taking it upon himself to prune some cherry trees in the area to prevent caterpillars from nesting on them, had panicked or if the police could even find the guy in the first place.

Now I bet the city-office is going to give him crap about do this too.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Of course being a non Japanese I was interrogated, gaijin card checked blah blah.

Where and how were you "interrogated"? Taken to the station and questioned under a bright light with police hovering menacingly nearby?

-8 ( +7 / -15 )

These people who are frightened of their own shadow are ten-a-penny in Japan. Usually middle-aged women.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

LOL, 70 cops and a helicopter to arrest a tree pruner.... slow day the police dept., I guess?

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Pretty hard to seriously hurt someone with hand saw.

She probably saw one too many horror movies or she is a city slicker with no knowledge on life in the country.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Yes, she may have been scared at the idea of a phantom killer or the like. But right after reading this I found myself LOL-ing. What a farcical episode!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Near pre school picking up child , guy in tree with knife. Let me see, Japanese could be said to be knife instead of gun oriented. Would be of concern to a mother picking up child in Japan, maybe not in Birmingham.

The police possible over egged the pudding in their response but not the concerned mother in my view.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Yes, yes, and the last time someone was spotted with a knife walking around, and no one called the cops and a child was killed, these comment sections were full of comments about the Japanese not caring what happens in their neighborhoods. Sigh.

So what? One time someone was wrong, what if she were right? Does she deserve ridicule for being on the side of caution?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I hope they all then went to the lady's house to report to her that it was in fact the 80-year-old man pruning trees. I mean, there is something, I guess, to being careful, but people who are overly paranoid and for no good reason should be told they need to mellow out a little.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Pretty hard to seriously hurt someone with hand saw.

Pruning saws are actually nasty things. A slashing attack at someone's neck could cut through ALL neck tissue like it was butter until it got to the neck bones. The teeth of the saw and the handle are designed to cut deepest on the "draw" stroke rather than the "push" stroke like most wood saws. Thus, the typical slashing attack coincides with the pruning saw's most effective stroke.

http://www.grainger.com/product/JAMESON-Tri-Edge-Blade-Hand-Saw-5KRF2?s_pp=false&picUrl=//static.grainger.com/rp/s/is/image/Grainger/5KRF2_AS01?$smthumb$

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

"70 police officers, who were apparently having a pretty slow day,"

There are a lot of police officers who often have slow days.

"It turns out neither the old man nor the police suspected he was the cause of all the trouble"

Hee hee!

"Finally something to laugh at in the crime section."

Are you kidding? There's often something funny to laugh at in the crime section! For example, the guy who stole the rescue vehicle who came to his aid when he called them, ha ha ha lol

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Better to be safe than sorry. No harm done in the end, right?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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