EXCLUSIVE: Japan Police Officer Acquitted of Public Lewdness

August 31, 2018

Tokyo- A police officer in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, has been acquitted of public lewdness, after Tokyo High Court reversed a guilty ruling issued by a lower court in February this year, informed sources told Jiji Press on Thursday.

The high court ruling has become final, the sources said.

The officer who was found to be innocent is Hayato Nagashima, 26, who belongs to the Kashiwa station of the Chiba prefectural police department.

"It was worth fighting to the end," he said. "I want to raise my voice to prevent other people from being falsely accused like me."

On a train waiting at Chiba Station of East Japan Railway Co. <9020>, or JR East, on Oct. 31, 2016, Nagashima was overpowered by a male passenger for allegedly exposing his private parts by unzipping his jeans.

Nagashima was indicted in March 2017 without arrest on charges of public lewdness and was put on unpaid leave.

During a trial at Chiba District Court, the officer claimed that he forget to zip up his jeans at a toilet.

But the district court found that the officer conducted public lewdness on purpose, ordering him to pay 300,000 yen in fines, mainly on the basis of the court testimony of the passenger, who was the only witness.

On July 26 this year, Tokyo High Court concluded that there was no evidence to support deliberate intent to expose himself by the officer.

"This is a landmark case as an incumbent police officer has won a not-guilty ruling and returned to duty," Yamato Sato, his lawyer during the appeals trial, said. Jiji Press