SHIZUOKA (Kyodo) A Shizuoka policeman is under arrest after he asked his wife to turn herself in over a hit-and-run accident he caused over the weekend, the police said.

Kikei Takada, 46, an assistant Shizuoka Prefectural Police inspector, allegedly bumped his car into another on a road in Shizuoka Saturday evening, lightly injuring two people in the other car. Saturday was his day off.

Instead of immediately calling police, however, Takada allegedly fled the scene and called his wife at home, asking her to turn herself in on his behalf, the police said.

She did as she was told, but the hastily arranged plot soon unraveled when police interrogated his wife, who couldn't provide any details of the accident, the police said.

"My husband asked me to become a substitute," she told police as she spilled the beans. But Takada is reportedly denying he made the request, which may constitute an attempt to hide a crime suspect.

Takada has only owned up to the hit-and-run, according to the police.

In addition, investigators have found that Takada may have been under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident, the police said.

Shizuoka police spokesman Satoshi Iwasaki apologized at a news conference Sunday, saying, "It is extremely regrettable that a member of our police force has caused this."