Over a nearly one-hour period on Monday, a 41-year-old male driver accompanied by his mother caused multiple accidents in Matsuyama City as he led Ehime Prefctural Police on a chase that proceeded through a shopping mall, reports TV Asahi
At 1:55 p.m., Ryohei Zaima, a company employee living in Imabari City, got into a minor accident on National Route 196. After he fled the scene, police were tipped off, which kicked off the chase.
Over the next 55 minutes, Zaima led police on a chase that resulted in five other collisions, including an incident involving a woman, aged in her 60s, who was struck and injured slightly at a pedestrian crossing while on a bicycle.
In multiple clips taken from security camera footage, the silver sedan can been seen barreling through the mall --- accessible by bicycles and pedestrians --- with shoppers scattering out of its path as a white police motorcycle follows. One eyewitness estimated the speed of the vehicle at 80 kilometers per hour.
The chase ended after Zaima made a U-turn, causing the battered vehicle to lose its left-front tire and come to a halt. Police subsequently apprehended Zaima, whose mother, 69, was in the back seat, on suspicion of violating the Road Traffic Act for making a U-turn in a prohibited area.
"Because of various stresses I got desperate and drove like a maniac," said Zaima, who is also under investigation for hit-and-run causing injury.
Source: ANNnewsCH
