A car chase has ended with police shooting dead the car’s yakuza driver after he repeatedly attempted to ram his way past police.
The incident began in the early hours of the morning, when two police officers spotted a “suspicious” car at an Osaka restaurant parking lot and approached it to question the occupants.
Rather than be questioned, the driver drove off through a fence, and police promptly gave chase.
Police finally managed to stop the car at an intersection 20 minutes later after a 15km pursuit, and disembarked to effect an arrest, but the yakuza repeatedly rammed the patrol car in an effort to escape, prompting police to open fire.
Police fired several warning shots into the vehicle’s tires, but these were apparently ignored and police proceeded to fire repeatedly into the driver’s side, hitting him once in the chest.
The mortally wounded driver, identified as a member of the Yamaguchi syndicate, was arrested on charges of attempted murder and interfering with official duties, but died shortly after being taken to hospital.
His companion, an unemployed 47-year-old man, was uninjured and arrested on charges of interfering with official duties, but maintains he “was just sat next to” the dead gangster.
Police maintain their use of deadly force was appropriate due to “the driver’s repeated traffic infractions and ramming of a police vehicle, and the fear he might endanger the public.”
Japanese police are generally highly reluctant to even brandish their weapons (and face potentially career-ending censure if they do so inappropriately), let alone open fire, so their decision to open fire on a vehicle is unusual in the extreme.
No explanation has so far been offered as to why the yakuza’s man was so eager to avoid police, but police suspected his vehicle may have been used in a spate of local thefts from vehicles and recovered a suspect tool from the car.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH CHOCK ONE UP FOR JAPANESE POLICE!!!
That’s fucking awesome!
there still somethings like this? i thought nowdays criminal on modern country are largely like corporation. they choose profit not fighting.
on today news who want to be a hero without big salary? result are less then 10%
so who want to be criminal without money? result are less then 1%
nowdays they have to find some clowns to show that police is doing something. To make people believe that everything is OK in that system. Everything else in criminal world is going quietly and legally.Taxes, bribes, banking business , politics and so on.
Why the police didn’t just shoot the tire for stopping the car instead wasting bullet for shooting the man inside.
for me the police is still amateur and reckless for handle this kind of situation.
And the way police did, will also endangered hi/her surrounding.
what if there were another car and suddenly the bullet wounded one of civilian??
sorry for bad english……
i Hope Japanese police not doing something like this recklessly
“Police finally managed to stop the car at an intersection 20 minutes later after a 15km pursuit, and disembarked to effect an arrest,”
At this point, the police are out of their patrol car (they had ‘disembarked’)…
“but the yakuza repeatedly rammed the patrol car in an effort to escape, prompting police to open fire.”
Now, the suspected Yakuza – there’s only one driver – is ramming an empty patrol car in an attempt to escape.
“Police maintain their use of deadly force was appropriate due to “the driver’s repeated traffic infractions and ramming of a police vehicle, and the fear he might endanger the public.””
Oooh, ‘repeated traffic infractions’, we’d better cap his ass. Likewise with ‘fear he might endanger the public’.
I’m afraid Krusty the Klown ‘might endanger the public’, but that doesn’t mean I can legally shoot him.
Apparently, the police could not be bothered to set up roadblocks with spike-strips to disable the suspects’ vehicle. Or (once the cops are in shooting mode) shoot the suspects’ OTHER two tires, or the radiator, or put a teargas round into the vehicle, or anything else non-lethal.
I’d love to see Katana wielding Japanese Police. I think that would be very intimidating. Guns are for pussies. Swords (not knives) are for real men.
And they should like jump over cars and cut them in halves.