Prosecutors, not police, decide formal charges under the Japanese justice system. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — Japanese prosecutors on Tuesday indicted a U.S. Navy sailor accused of injuring an 87-year-old man in a car collision in February.
Master Chief Petty Officer Charlie Sison Julio, 45, was charged with negligent driving resulting in injuries, a spokesman for the Yokohama District Public Prosecutor’s Office in Yokosuka told Stars and Stripes by phone Tuesday.
Prosecutors said Julio, who is assigned to Yokosuka’s Naval Education Training Command, was driving in Yokosuka on Feb. 11 when he made a right turn and struck an 87-year-old man in a crosswalk.
The spokesman said Julio is “suspected of neglecting his obligation as a driver to stop and confirm if any pedestrians were in the crosswalk” before making a right turn.
The incident took place on a city road in the Fukadadai neighborhood, about a half-mile from the base’s front gate, according to a news release from Masahiko Goto, an attorney representing the injured man.
The man was seriously injured, including a head injury with bleeding around the brain and fractures to his hip and left kneecap, Goto said.
The Yokosuka Police Department referred Julio’s case to the prosecutor’s office on Sept. 12. A trial date has not been scheduled but is expected soon, according to the news release.
Prosecutors, not police, decide formal charges under Japan’s criminal justice system.
The victim has no memory of the accident — possibly due to his head injury — and is receiving rehabilitation treatment at the hospital, Goto said. The man’s wife said their lives have changed significantly since the incident.
“My husband was healthy until the accident, and the accident took away freedom of his daily life,” she said in the news release.
Naval Forces Japan referred all questions to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, which did not immediately respond to an email after hours on Tuesday.
AloJapan.com