He should get about five to 10 years’ overtime for this.

I know the mass media tends to skew our perception of the real world, but I swear, with the number of reports I hear about people driving without a license, it’s almost as if one-third to one-half of everyone on the road doesn’t even have a license. It’s certainly possible since as long as you follow the rules and stay safe, you can drive for a very long time without anyone ever asking to see it.

However, when an accident occurs, this deceit completely unravels and leaves the driver liable for far worse punishments than a licensed one. They are then faced with the choice of confronting their lie or trying to weave an even more tangled web, as one resident of Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture, unwisely attempted to do.

At about 10 a.m. on 28 June, the 37-year-old president of a food and beverage company was driving a kei truck and rear-ended a car in front of him. The impact injured a passenger in the other car, but the president fled the scene without providing first aid.

▼ Kei trucks are tiny but they do pack a punch.

After the accident occurred, the president then asked one of his employees to turn himself in, pretending to be the one who caused the crash. The 27-year-old employee was either a victim of power harassment or incredibly loyal to his company, because he agreed and went to the police roughly seven hours after the accident occurred.

However, neither the man nor his story fit the details of their investigation, and upon further questioning, he admitted that he was asked by his president to do what he did. This resulted in the employee being arrested for concealing a criminal and his boss being brought in for both the hit-and-run and driving without a license.

The president immediately admitted to what he did, telling police that he didn’t want to be caught driving without a license. Meanwhile, readers of the news online expressed a complete lack of surprise that this criminal scheme didn’t pan out.

“There was no way the police wouldn’t have caught on to it.”
“Is this some kind of yakuza company?”
“That employee cracked pretty easily.”
“There’s no way he would have known the details of the accident accurately because he wasn’t there.”
“Only a stupid employee would agree to that, so obviously they figured it out.”
“They should make cars that won’t start unless you show them a license.”
“Combo crime.”
“I wonder how much money he offered.”
“They both really underestimated the police.”

Indeed, while the police in Japan are humans just like anyone else and certainly not immune to clumsiness or foibles, it’s important to know they can also be incredibly tenacious at times and chase people halfway across the country for shoplifting some ground beef. That’s why it’s best not to tempt fate with them and hope that honesty will ultimately be the best policy.

Source: ABC News, Hachima Kiko
Featured image: Pakutaso
Insert image: © SoraNews24
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!