KYOTO (Kyodo) Police arrested a 19-year-old male employee of Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) Thursday on suspicion of negligence in closing a shutter at Kyoto Station the previous night that crushed a homeless man to death, police officials said.
The employee, whose name is being withheld because he is a minor, told police he did not notice the man, identified as Akito Higuchi, 69, who was apparently lying on the floor, when he pushed a button between 11:40 and 11:45 p.m. Wednesday to lower the shutter in a passageway in the south part of the station, police said.
They said the station employee and the victim were only about 5 meters apart when he pushed the button after the day's train services ended, but a pillar between them apparently obstructed the view.
The employee reportedly told police, "I could not see the man lying on the floor."
The employee has been charged with professional negligence resulting in death.
Shortly after the incident, at around 11:55 p.m. Wednesday, a Kinki Nippon Railway Co. employee found the man caught under the shutter, which was on his stomach, and called an ambulance. The man was pronounced dead at a hospital.
"He was always sleeping outside the station. Since it was raining last night, I think he went inside," said a 55-year-old man who often saw the victim.
The metal shutter, 2.4 meters high and 2.9 meters wide, is an old type produced in 1981 and does not have an automatic stopping device.
