This Dec. 2, 2021 photo shows an intersection where a man was hit by four cars in Nishi Ward, Osaka, the previous day. (Mainichi/Kenji Konoha)

       OSAKA -- A 30-year-old pedestrian in this western Japan city was left in a coma after being hit by four vehicles in the early morning of Dec. 1.

       Osaka Prefectural Police's Nishi Police Station arrested 51-year-old Habikino, Osaka Prefecture resident Atsushi Tatsuoka, who was driving a light passenger car, and three others on suspicion of causing death or injury while driving and leaving the scene of an accident.

       Victim Ryota Torii was allegedly first hit by the car driven by Tatsuoka, and then run over by the other three suspects' vehicles in the following 10 minutes.

       The other suspects are cab drivers Moriyoshi Sotoma, 77, a resident of the city of Sakai, and Hiroichi Yamamoto, 70, of the city of Osaka, as well as 60-year-old Yao, Osaka Prefecture resident Katsumi Takanishi, who was driving a station wagon.

       Prefectural police quoted Sotoma as saying, "The cars around me also ran over a person and then drove away. I thought I'd be OK if I ran away too, so I did," and Yamamoto as stating, "I had work, so I left the scene." Takanishi, on the other hand, has reportedly denied the allegation, saying, "I felt like I'd driven over something, but I didn't recognize it as a person."

       The Yotsubashisuji road where the accident occurred is a one-way five-lane thoroughfare heading north through the center of Osaka. At around 6:05 a.m. on Dec. 1, Torii was crossing the road at an intersection in Nishi Ward, when he was hit by the light passenger car coming from the south. It is believed that he fell near the crosswalk and was run over by the two cabs and the station wagon. There were no passengers in the cabs.

       After driving away, Tatsuoka returned to the scene. He reported the accident to the police officers who had arrived after a passerby called emergency services, and was arrested on the spot. The other three drivers emerged as suspects following police analysis of local security camera footage.

       (Japanese original by Kohei Shimizu and Yukina Furukawa, Osaka City News Department)

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