US drunken driving suspect arrested
Print Edition
AN American sailor was arrested yesterday on suspicion of drunken driving causing an accident on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa, where public anger has run high over crimes by US military personnel.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Aimee Mejia, 21, assigned to Kadena base in Okinawa, was arrested after driving the wrong way on a freeway and smashing head-on into two vehicles late Saturday, said police spokesman Takashi Shirado. Mejia was not hurt, but two people in the other cars were injured, one in the arm and the other in the chest, he said.
The US military said it was cooperating fully with the Japanese investigation.
“We deeply regret this incident and express our heartfelt sympathies for the accident victims and their families. We wish them a fast recovery,” Lt. Gen. John Dolan, the commander of US Forces in Japan, said in a statement.
Okinawa is home to more than half of about 50,000 American troops based in Japan. Protests are common on the island, where residents feel they are being forced with an unfair burden of housing the US troops under a bilateral security agreement.
American military personnel are under a midnight curfew and off-base drinking is banned through later this month in Okinawa after a former US Marine who worked on an American military base was arrested after he led police to a woman’s body. He is being held on suspicion of abandoning the body, while police investigate.
The suspected murder of the woman was such a critical issue it came up during President Barack Obama’s recent visit to Japan. Obama offered his condolences and promised that the US would fully cooperate to have the man prosecuted under Japanese law.
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