Naha, Okinawa Pref., Nov. 14 (Jiji Press)–Police on Saturday arrested U.S. Air Force Capt. Omena C. Mushale, stationed at a base in the southernmost Japan prefecture of Okinawa, for allegedly drinking under the influence of alcohol in violation of the Japanese road traffic law. The incident came at a time when all U.S. military personnel in Okinawa have been barred from drinking outside their homes after midnight until Dec. 7 in the wake of the arrest of a U.S. Marine in October on suspicion of killing and robbing a woman at a hotel in Naha, the capital of the prefecture. Mushale, 27, who belongs to the U.S. Air Force’s Kadena Air Base in the prefecture, was arrested by the Okinawa prefectural police department for allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol on a road in the city of Okinawa around 3:10 a.m. Saturday. Police officers on patrol found the suspect driving out of a parking lot near an entertainment district close to the Kadena base, according to the police. Mushale smelled alcohol when the officers questioned him after they stopped his vehicle, which increased the speed. A breath test conducted on the Air Force captain detected an alcohol level about three times the limit. The suspect denied part of the allegations against him, saying he thought that the alcohol level had fallen to a reading allowing him to drive and that there would be no problem because his house is close from the parking lot. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
