<figure id="attachment_463365" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-463365" style="width: 1188px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="d0eee1c8"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/04/444b1034e030aef9ffe479b0dda3f377.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-463365" class="wp-caption-text">Fukuda, the suspect who severely injured a cab driver who tried to stop him from assaulting a driver, resulting in two years of total recovery.</figcaption></figure>
<h3><span class="strongInContent"> He assaulted the driver who warned him.</span></h3>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> &#8220;I didn&#8217;t hit the taxi driver after he got out of the way.</span></p>
<p> A 24-year-old man who punched a cab driver who came to stop a fight, severely injuring him, stated that he did not hit the driver many times. He stated that he did not hit the taxi driver, but that he did not hit the driver several times.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> On March 25, the Itabashi Police Station of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department arrested Ryuto Fukuda, 24, a self-proclaimed self-employed man, and Daikai Matsui, 21, a junior at Nippon Keizai University, on suspicion of inflicting injuries. Last December, five men and women passing by woke the Matsui suspects, who were sleeping in a convenience store parking lot, and the Matsui suspects became enraged. He called in Fukuda and began assaulting two of the five suspects.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The remaining three fled to a nearby cab company, where Fukuda chased after the suspect. When the cab driver, a man in his 40s who was there, warned him to take his business outside, Fukuda punched the cab driver, breaking his jaw and seriously injuring him for two years.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Fukuda admitted the charge, saying, &#8216;I remember hitting him, though it was only in fragments,&#8217; while Matsui denied the charge, saying, &#8216;I am not convinced.</span></p>
<p> On March 28, the suspect Fukuda was sent to the prosecutor&#8217;s office. When Fukuda appeared at the Itabashi Station escort entrance, his face was downcast for a moment, but he immediately looked up and began walking with shoulders hunched. He then turned his sharp gaze at the cameraman as if to intimidate him.</p>
<p> What in the world had happened last December when the incident took place?</p>
<p> A cab company official, who works for the cab driver who was seriously injured, said, <span class="strongInContent">&#8220;There was a man sleeping, so I was worried and woke him up, and it seems he was involved in the incident.</span></p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" &#39;He came after me yelling and suddenly hit me.&#39;"></div>
<h3><span class="strongInContent">Details of the incident as told by the man who was chased.</span></h3>
<p> The day after the incident, one of the men who fled the scene came to apologize.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> He was a man of about 40 years old, and he came to apologize with a sweet gift saying, &#8216;I&#8217;m sorry I got you into this. The man had only scratches, but some of the others were beaten and injured.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> He apologized, saying, &#8220;I was chased and someone I know was hit, and I was so scared that I ran into this (cab company),&#8221; but these people did not cause the violence. I told him that we couldn&#8217;t even wake up the people who were sleeping.</span></p>
<p> He then asked about the day of the incident.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> He said, &#8220;We had a year-end party that day, and five men and five women were on their way home. On their way home, they saw a man (Matsui, the suspect) sleeping in the parking lot of a convenience store. It was winter, it was the middle of the night, and it would be difficult if he caught a cold, so I decided to wake him up. And when I called out to him, the sleeping man woke up, so the five of us left the scene.</span></p>
<p> After the five of them had been walking for a while, the man came after them with his friends.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> He said, &#8220;A few of them chased after him, yelling something from behind, and suddenly one of them was hit. It was so bad that a pool of blood formed. The man who hit him here is said to be the one who was sleeping in the parking lot (Matsui).&#8221;</span></p>
<p> This pool of blood was still there the next morning. Then, three of the five men, terrified by the sudden violence, fled to the cab company&#8217;s premises.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The cab company is well-lit even in the middle of the night. Then the man (Fukuda) came into the cab company and started chasing them around. It would have been very dangerous if anyone had scratched the car, so the crew member who was there said, &#8216;Please do it outside. He suddenly punched me.</span></p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Did he really only hit them once?"></div>
<h3><span class="strongInContent">They shattered my jaw and broke about five of my teeth.&#8221;</span></h3>
<p> According to this official, Fukuda&#8217;s statement at the beginning of this article is &#8220;true. Fukuda hit the cab driver only once. The &#8220;one blow&#8221; was so strong, he said.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The driver who was hit said so, and it was also caught on security camera footage, but the man only hit him once. It was an uppercut-like move, as if he was swinging his arm up from below. He didn&#8217;t hesitate to land an uppercut on his opponent and shatter his jaw with a single blow, which made me think he must have been boxing.&#8221;</span></p>
<p> The cab driver who was hit was recently able to finally work. The taxi driver who was hit is finally able to work now, the official explained.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> He had his jaw crushed and about five teeth knocked out. I was hospitalized for about half a month, and at first only my family could visit me. And I couldn&#8217;t work for about a month and a half. I couldn&#8217;t eat anything, so I was on a liquid diet at first.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I was told that I could not have teeth until my jaw was stabilized, so the treatment finally started at the end of February or the beginning of March. So I don&#8217;t have any teeth in yet. The pain has subsided a lot and I can talk properly now, but I still can&#8217;t eat hard food. I will continue to go to the hospital, and next year I will have to have another surgery on my jaw.</span></p>
<p> Although his medical expenses were covered by his workman&#8217;s compensation, he has yet to hear from the perpetrators of the crime.</p>
<p> Matsui chased after and beat up people who woke him up out of concern. Fukuda, who seriously injured a cab driver who came to stop a fight.</p>
<p> What will these two men, who were so unreasonably violent, have to say during the upcoming interrogations?</p>
<p> The investigation has just begun.</p>

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<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" [Image] Fukuda suspect intimidating the press"></div>
<figure id="attachment_463368" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-463368" style="width: 1117px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="a2b72b60"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/04/584bb4fcdb97530f48e0d8f1c5331f51.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-463368" class="wp-caption-text">The suspect, Fukuda, was sent to the Itabashi Police Station on March 28. For a moment, it looked as if he was going to fall on his face. &#8230;&#8230;</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_463369" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-463369" style="width: 1145px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="1e81c1fa"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/04/81ac8121951f8844a354a35fd660a91b.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-463369" class="wp-caption-text"> He raised his head and stared menacingly at the camera</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_463370" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-463370" style="width: 1970px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="b9399551"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/04/8374d46064dad1399de6885572d0ee25.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-463370" class="wp-caption-text"> And then he was walking with a hunched shoulder.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_463371" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-463371" style="width: 1145px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="8d9437c6"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/04/b5638425a6bf2706e1822a405383c91d.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-463371" class="wp-caption-text"> Fukuda allegedly struck the male cab driver only once.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_463366" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-463366" style="width: 4000px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="ae30a3aa"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/04/b1a33aacbb4a7bdd7e7f685034b4e96b.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-463366" class="wp-caption-text"> The cab company where the three men fled after being chased by Fukuda and the other suspects. The victim&#8217;s driver cautioned the pursuing Fukuda suspects and was harmed</figcaption></figure>


 Nakahira Ryo

 Shinji Hasuo (1st to 5th photos), Ryo Nakaheira (cab company)

 A cab driver who tried to stop three men and a woman from being violently assaulted was beaten and seriously injured, resulting in a two-year recovery. What happened on the night of the incident? An official of the cab company where the victim worked recounted the whole story.

A cab driver who stopped a violent assault was badly injured for two years.

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