A 58-year-old Kanagawa Prefectural Police inspector was arrested Friday night for allegedly groping a 29-year-old woman aboard a train in Yokohama, police said Saturday.
Yasutaka Hoshimura, a chief inspector at Tobe Police Station, was arrested for allegedly violating the municipal ordinance on harassment, according to the police.
Hoshimura is suspected of touching the woman as she sat next to him on a JR Negishi Line train as it was approaching Hongodai Station in Yokohama's Sakae Ward, the police said.
The woman's husband, 24, who was standing in front of them, apparently witnessed Hoshimura's actions and handed him over to the police after making him get off the train at the station.
Hoshimura, who was on his way home from drinking with his subordinates after work, was apparently drunk at the time and denied the allegations, they said.
Yoshiharu Kaneko, head of the inspection office of the prefectural police, said it is regrettable that a high-ranking police officer was involved in such behavior. Kaneko promised to prevent such incidents from happening again.