A 17-year-old rape suspect who escaped from police custody at a hospital in Hokkaido the previous day turned himself in on Thursday, accompanied by a female acquaintance, officials said.
According to the Hokkaido Prefectural Police, the suspect, a company employee in Hakodate, was arrested Wednesday morning for allegedly attempting to assault a different girl, a teenage acquaintance, and injuring her.
The teenager, whose name is being withheld because he is a minor, was arrested on Wednesday and claimed to be suffering heart pain soon after. He was promptly taken to a hospital but doctors were unable to find anything wrong with him, the police said. After the accompanying officers told him they were taking him back to the station, he jumped out of bed at around 6:20 p.m. and ran away in his bare feet with his handcuffs on. He managed to free himself while on the run, the police said.
A police rope tied around his waist was also cut, meaning the boy probably managed to cut it beforehand while his hands were covered by a blanket at the hospital.
After less than six hours on the run, however, the female acquaintance called the police just after midnight Wednesday and said, "I'm with him now and will soon bring him back," the police said. She then drove him to a police station at around 1:20 a.m.
The boy is accused of causing the teenage girl to strain a neck muscle during the alleged assault in a park in Hakodate on Feb. 8.
According to the police, the suspect denied the allegations and said the sex was consensual.