Two U.S. servicemen were arrested in Okinawa Prefecture over the weekend for allegedly assaulting Japanese nationals.
The Okinawa Prefectural Police on Saturday arrested Tomas Salazar, a 25-year-old airman who is stationed at the U.S. Air Force's Kadena base in the prefecture, on suspicion of assaulting his girlfriend in a parking lot in the city of Okinawa.
He allegedly pushed down the woman, who is in her 20s, and punched her in the face several times around 3:30 a.m. Saturday, causing an injury to her mouth. Salazar has denied the allegations, saying that he did not beat his girlfriend.
Gabriel Monize, a 21-year-old private first class who is stationed at the U.S. Marine Corps' Camp Hansen in Okinawa Prefecture, was arrested Sunday on suspicion of slightly injuring an unacquainted 40-year-old Japanese man by putting his hands around the neck of the latter, who was in a car on a street in the city of Okinawa around 12:10 a.m. the same day.
According to Okinawa police, the Japanese man was in his parked car when Monize suddenly entered the vehicle and assaulted him from behind. Monize has denied the allegations while refusing to take an alcohol test.
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