A former deputy police chief pleaded not guilty Thursday to professional negligence over a fatal pedestrian crush after a fireworks show in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, in 2001.
Kazuaki Sakaki, 64, was deputy Akashi police chief on the Hyogo prefectural force on the night of July 21, 2001, when the postfireworks throng attempted to head to the local train station en masse via an enclosed pedestrian overpass, leaving 11 people dead and 247 others injured. The 11 who were crushed to death ranged in age from 9 to over 70.
"I did all I could. I was not negligent," Sakaki, charged with failure to prevent the accident, said at the opening of his Kobe District Court trial.