Van Driven by 75-year-old Kills 2, Injures 1 at Senior Care Facility

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Police investigate a van on Wednesday in Minuma Ward, Saitama.

SAITAMA — A van driven by a 75-year-old ran over three people in the parking lot of a senior day care center in Minuma Ward, Saitama, on Wednesday, killing two people in their 80s and injuring a staff member.

The Saitama prefectural police arrested Tatsuro Kuboshima, who works for the center, for negligent driving resulting in injury and will investigate charging him with negligent driving resulting in death and injury as well. The van may have struck the victims as they were waiting to be picked up by Kuboshima.

The dead were Toshio Iizumi, 89, and Takuko Seki, 88, both from Minuma. The employee, 43, was injured on his leg.

The van drove onto a ramp in the parking lot and crashed into the center’s wall. Iizumi and Seki were under the van when the staff found them and placed an emergency call.