Police in Habikino City, Osaka Prefecture, have arrested a 23-year-old man on suspicion of attempted murder and obstruction of traffic after he strung a rope across a road, causing a man on a bicycle to fall and injure himself.
Police said Yuki Matsumi, a part-time worker, has admitted to the allegation but denied intent to kill, NHK reported.
According to police, Matsumi is accused of stringing a rope across the road at around 9:15 p.m. on May 31. The rope was stretched about 70 centimeters high across a road five meters wide.
A 20-year-old male university student riding the bike hit the rope. He fell off the bike and suffered bruises to his head and back.
Police said Matsumi was identified after an analysis of street surveillance camera footage which showed him removing a rope from the entrance to a nearby parking lot and attaching it to a fence on the opposite side of the road.
The same camera footage showed Matsumi fleeing after seeing the victim's bicycle fall over.
© Japan Today
17 Comments
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リッチ
Good. He could have killed the cyclist be it an adult or a child.
SomeWeeb
That's pretty messed up. He must be angered by something like bike noise at night or something.
Ricky Kaminski13
You really have to ask yourself when you read stories like this. Where did society go wrong? Another young fella with a complete absence of a moral compass.
englisc aspyrgend
Interesting to know what motivation he had for his actions, but it probably will never be published.
Garthgoyle
Please give him five years in jail and parade him everywhere for what he did. About time people learn this is not just a prank.
Legrande
A few years ago a couple of expat kids pulled the same stunt.
Speed
When me and my buddies were about 9 years old, we thought about doing the same thing to a kid we didn't like. We eventually thought it was too dangerous so we didn't. But we were 9 years old! Not 23! What a moron.
Random
@Legrande, the kids were military dependents. The victim, a 20 year old woman, fell off her scooter and suffered a fractured skull.
John
What a psychopath. I hope he gets charged with attempted murder and never sees sun light again..
WA4TKG
I was 9 years old, (living in South Jersey), and was TAUGHT by a neighborhood hoodlum, tape a
Party Popper Pull String Firecracker into a road sign POST, make sure it's heavily taped, TIE a string to your
Firecracker and Viola', you have an IED / Trip Wire, and YES; we left it that way, cars would run through it and blow it up, lol....we were NINE.
Zaphod
That is potential murder. He should get the strongest penalty possible. No excuse.
btfkuri
Societies ? In my country, it's old guys that don't want to let ohers use their street that do put ropes at night... They don't arrest them as we have no geriatric jails.
MarkX
I think this guy may have thought it would be funny to do this, and record the hilarity that ensued. Then post it to TikTok or Youtube and make a fortune! The idiot never thought about what kind of real damage he could inflict on someone!
@Japan Glimpsed
You mean 暴走族? Maybe. But the victim was on a bike.
Bit harsh, Johnny. Fortunately Japan justice believes in rehabilitation.
No, one doesn't. Where did humans go wrong? is the question/ non-question.
John
I don't know why many people are trying to find excuses to reduce the seriousness of the crime. Someone could have died, or even worse, could have gotten life time serious disability. There is no excuse of tiktok and video joke for such a serious crime. He is not a 9 year old child.
wallace
Lucky not to be decapitated, as in some other cases.
browny1
MarkX - possibly so.
Bloggers, Influencers, You tubers etc getting laughs on SMS sites, from fooling / pranking people is common.
Even tv shows - esp in Japan - have used it to get laughs and sometimes they have gone horribly wrong.
This case could be that - and the individual lacked any notion of danger in his stupid action.
Or he could be someone bent on revenge or has a deep mean streak.
Maybe it will come out.