A 27-year-old man was arrested in the city of Hiroshima on Sunday for allegedly causing accidents at two intersections while driving a garbage collection truck on Friday.
Two people were slightly injured in the accidents.
The suspect, identified as part-time driver Shinobu Kondo, was arrested on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in injury and traffic law violations for driving under the influence of alcohol.
Police had been planning to question Kondo, who himself was also hospitalized for injuries, after he had recovered. However, investigators decided to arrest him when it was discovered that he had gone home Friday night.
Police suspect that Kondo was driving the garbage truck after consuming an alcoholic beverage a little before noon on Friday, when he caused an accident at a city intersection involving three other vehicles. He continued to drive, and collided with two other cars at another intersection roughly 200 meters away.