Three people were slightly injured early Saturday in a collision at an intersection in Kyoto involving a taxi and a passenger car that was being pursued by police, investigators said.
The driver of the passenger car, identified as Kazuya Asada, 20, of the city of Kameoka in the prefecture, was arrested on the spot for violating traffic laws by running a red light.
According to investigators, police officers were on the lookout for motorbike gangs when they spotted Asada's car, which had been remodeled. They told him to pull over but he refused, leading to the chase.
The suspect was also driving without a driver's license, they said.
The three people injured in the accident were the taxi's 57-year-old driver and his two passengers.