On March 25 last year, Michael Laws was driving a minivan full of children for an English-language playschool in Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture, when he hit a scooter. The rider was another foreigner, Patrick Alford, who died at the scene.
According to Laws, Alford was trying to pass him on the inside of a narrow road when he suddenly pulled out in front of the minivan. The police would later argue that Alford was in front of Laws for 650 meters before the crash and that Laws had been negligent.
An accident involving one foreigner -- let alone two -- in this dull suburban area is rare and likely to generate a lot of extra work. The local police seemed determined to clear the case quickly, says Laws, who claims they failed to investigate the site, test him for alcohol or interview the children.