Prosecutors on Thursday indicted an 88-year-old former senior bureaucrat on a charge of negligence resulting in death and injury over a fatal car accident in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district last year.

Kozo Iizuka, former chief of the Agency of Industrial Science and Technology, is accused of running a red light and hitting and killing Mana Matsunaga, 31, and her daughter Riko, 3, as they were traversing a crosswalk by bicycle on April 19.

Iizuka's wife, who was in the car, was among the nine people injured. Police referred the case to prosecutors on Nov. 12.

The police concluded the accident was caused by Iizuka mistaking the gas pedal for the brake. No mechanical problems were found with the car, the police said.

Prosecutors chose to charge Iizuka with negligence rather than dangerous driving resulting in death and injury, which carries a heavier penalty.