Man Rearrested over Fatal Hit-and-Run in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward

(Typo in 7th para corrected) Tokyo, Dec. 15 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo police rearrested a 37-year-old man Monday on the fresh charges of dangerous driving resulting in death and a hit-and-run in the capital’s Adachi Ward last month. The suspect, Yusuke Yokoo, was initially apprehended at his home in the same ward on Nov. 24 on suspicion of stealing a car from a dealership, after two pedestrians were killed and a dozen of others were injured in accidents caused by the car earlier the same day. According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, which disclosed the suspect’s name after assessing whether he could bear criminal responsibility, Yokoo was served with the fresh arrest warrant because he is now suspected of hitting Gladys Grace Rotaquio Testado, a 28-year-old Philippine woman, while she was walking on a crosswalk on a national road in the ward’s Umejima district around 12:30 p.m. on that day and fled. She was confirmed dead later. Investigative sources said Yokoo ran through a red light and drove into the crosswalk at about 70 kilometers per hour by pressing on the accelerator and that Testado was sent flying some 15 meters. Yokoo allegedly stole the car, which was on display at the dealership in the same ward, and drove north and stopped at a gas station in Soka, Saitama Prefecture, some two hours before the hit-and-run accident, which happened after the theft suspect was spotted by a police car when returning to Adachi, ignored a police request for him to pull over, and fled around 400 meters against two red lights. “I ran away because I did not want to be arrested,” a police officer quoted him as saying. After hitting the woman, Yokoo drove the car onto the sidewalk and ran into several pedestrians including an 81-year-old man who was killed. Later, he drove back onto the roadway and caused a pileup involving a truck. In the series of accidents caused by him, 12 people in their 10s or 20s suffered mild to heavy injuries, on top of the two fatalities, the police also said. The crime of dangerous driving resulting in death or injury applies to accidents in which drivers ignore red lights on purpose, or in which they are intoxicated with alcohol or drugs. It carries a prison sentence of at least one year and up to 20 years in cases resulting in deaths. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]