This is an interesting piece of news that I read on Mainichi. In Yokohama, a senior policeman has been reprimanded and faces criminal charges for slapping a high school boy who was waving a gun-shaped lighter around on a train.
The incident occurred when Koiso noticed station staff telling off a 16-year-old student who pointed a gun-shaped lighter at passengers on a train. The student put the lighter into his bag but Koiso followed the student off the train at Tsurugamine Station, grabbed his hair and ordered him to hand over the lighter. When the student complied, Koiso threw it away and slapped his face three times, leaving him with a minor injury that took a week to heal.
After Koiso’s arrest, prefectural police received 4,484 messages from citizens by phone and e-mail, most of them supporting Koiso’s action.
Its interesting that most of the Japanese public support Koiso’s action. Do you think its actually appropriate for the local policeman to be educating kids on what should be done in public?
Personally I do support Koiso’s action and I think its a nice way to keep pesky kids in check, especially if it involves the safety of other members of the public.
Up to the part where the policeman asks the student to keep his lighter, I support. But everything after that is just overstepping his boundaries.
Yes, the student was being an ass, reprimanding him on the train and calling his parents should have been the path to take, not slapping him after he complied with your orders.
Educating him is one thing. Unnecessary corporal punishment is another, and is now considered bullying, especially if it caused an injury that took a week to heal.
Stupid modern society, Japan should be more like the US, where the boy would’ve been tasered to death on the spot.
Well I support the policeman’s action mainly because the guy asked for the lighter first, the boy should have known to respect those in a higher authority than his
just like my grandparents used to say….
If don’t want you to be polite, use an iron fist
I think police should educate children, but I’m not sure about the slapping.
I agree with bakavic. A reprimand and parental notification would’ve been the appropriate action for this situation.