Overview

• A car that had struck a guardrail and stopped in the overtaking lane was rear-ended around 7:45 p.m. on Sept. 13 on the Tohoku Expressway’s down line in Kanuma, Tochigi.
• The rear vehicle was driven by 36-year-old company employee Sasamoto Yuya with his sons, ages 2 and 6; the younger boy is unconscious with a severe head injury, the older suffered a serious abdominal injury, and their father was also hurt.
• Tochigi prefectural police initially secured a foreign national a few kilometers from the scene in the early hours of Sept. 14 before making an arrest later that morning.
• Authorities identified the suspect as Bearjit Seito Izet, 30, a Turkish national, and accused him of Road Traffic Act violations including unlicensed driving and failing to report the accident.
• Police say the suspect admitted driving without a license and partially denied other allegations, and the crash forced a closure between Tochigi Tsuga Junction and Kanuma Interchange for more than four hours on the down line.