Mistakenly believing that he was being accused of “Oi!”… 43-year-old intoxicated man “struck and killed a stranger.” Tragic incident background.
It was almost dawn, but because it was a holiday, drunken customers could be seen here and there in the bar area in front of the station.
In the aftermath of the bustle, a tragic incident occurred. A man was approached by a tout and showed his displeasure. When he angrily warned the tout, another man, mistaking him for someone who was trying to get at him, punched him in the face.
On June 15, the Seijo Police Station of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department arrested Ken Sato, 43, a self-employed man living in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, on suspicion of manslaughter. On a street in Kinuta, the same ward, he allegedly struck Takashi Dohi, 51, an office worker whom he had never met, four or five times in the head and face, causing his death. A closer look at the case reveals a surprising background.
The alleged incident occurred at around 2:30 a.m. on June 9. The location was a shopping street lined with restaurants in front of Soshigaya-Okura Station on the Odakyu Line. Since the night before Saturday (June 8), Sato and Dohi had been drinking alcohol at different restaurants.
When the date changed and Mr. Dohi left the restaurant, he was approached by a cabaret club tout. When Mr. Dohi felt uncomfortable and said, ‘Oi,’ the suspect, who was nearby to take a cab, mistakenly thought that he was the one who had been warned. A heated argument ensued.
Two days later, he suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage.
The two men seemed to have had quite a bit to drink and were intoxicated. The Sato suspect repeatedly hit Mr. Dohi, whom he did not know, on the head and face. Mr. Dohi collapsed to the ground. A nearby restaurant employee noticed the commotion and called 119, and Mr. Dohi was taken to the hospital, where he died of a subarachnoid hemorrhage two days later on June 11.
Immediately after the crime, Sato left the scene. “Immediately after the crime, Sato left the scene, but he must have felt a strong sense of guilt. He turned himself in to the Seijo Police Department late at night on June 11, the day Mr. Dohi died. The suspect confessed to the crime, saying, “There is no doubt about it. There is no doubt in my mind. I clearly remember that I got into a fight with him and hit him several times.
When this magazine’s photographer tried to photograph Sato immediately after his arrest, he immediately put his head down in the backseat of the car in which he was being transported.
A misunderstanding led to a big trouble and the loss of a human life. …… Police are investigating further details of the circumstances.
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PHOTO: Shinji Hasuo