THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
November 18, 2021 at 18:05 JST
OSAKA-SAYAMA, Osaka Prefecture—An 89-year-old driver was arrested here after a series of blunders caused his car to plow into pedestrians, killing one and injuring two, smash into a supermarket and hit a pole, police said.
Osaka prefectural police are investigating Takashi Yokoyama, a resident of Osaka-Sayama, on suspicion of negligent driving resulting in death and injury.
Two women who were hit by the car suffered serious injuries. They are reportedly conscious.
The suspect, who was not injured in the chaos, said he mistakenly hit the accelerator instead of the brakes, according to police.
Hiroyuki Okada, 87, a local resident, died after suffering injuries to his entire body in the incident, which occurred at 12:10 p.m. on Nov. 17.
Yokoyama said he parked his car on a road near a Konomiya supermarket to wait for his wife, who was shopping there, according to police.
The suspect said that when he saw his wife come out of the supermarket, the car started moving as he tried to open its trunk with a mechanism on the driver’s seat, police said.
He said he attempted to stop the vehicle but mistakenly pressed the gas pedal, causing the car to accelerate and smash into the supermarket.
Yokoyama said he then quickly backed out of the store, shifted gears and again hit the accelerator. He said his car moved forward and hit the walls of the supermarket, according to police.
Footage of a nearby security camera showed the car moving toward the supermarket and knocking over a vending machine and goods on outdoor shelves. It plowed into the entrance of the supermarket before moving backward and running over bicycles parked nearby.
An eyewitness said the car then hit the pole on which the security camera was installed before moving forward and smashing into the walls of the supermarket.
The suspect reportedly lives with his elderly wife near the site.
“I should have made him quit driving,” a man in his 70s, who described himself as a friend of Yokoyama for 40 years, said after hearing the news.
The man said around a year ago, he and Yokoyama began talking about the need to give up driving before causing accidents.
Yokoyama regularly drives to go shopping and visit a hospital outside the city, according to the man. But he said he has sometimes seen Yokoyama struggling to park his car.
A man in his 60s who lives in the neighborhood said the suspect appeared to have taken thorough safety precautions when driving because he always made his wife sit in a backseat.
“He used to drive carefully,” the man said.
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A car smashes into a supermarket in Osaka-Sayama, Osaka Prefecture, on Nov. 17. (Toyokazu Kosugi)
