Police Not to Build Case against Ex-Nihon Univ. Coaches

November 13, 2018

<br /><br /> Tokyo--Police have decided not to build a prosecutable case against Masato Uchida, former coach of Nihon University's American football team, and former assistant coach Tsutomu Inoue over a dangerous hit by one of the team's players, investigative sources said Tuesday. <br /><br /> Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department judged that the two did not instruct the Nihon University defensive player to injure a rival team's quarterback, according to the sources. <br /><br /> The department will shortly send papers on Uchida, 63, and Inoue, 29, against whom criminal charges have been brought, to prosecutors but it is not expected to seek indictments against them. The two are likely to be exempted from prosecution, the sources said. <br /><br /> Papers on the Nihon University player will also be sent to prosecutors, recognizing him as the perpetrator of the act in question. <br /><br /> The hit was made during a game between Nihon University and Kwansei Gakuin University on May 6 this year. The Kwansei Gakuin quarterback suffered injuries to his back and knee as a result that required three weeks to heal. <br /><br /> Nihon University fired Uchida and Inoue after a third-party panel formed by the university found them responsible for the hit. Inoue admitted that he told the defensive player to "crush" the quarterback, but denied having instructed him to injure the opponent player. Uchida also flatly denied having given such instruction. <br /><br /> The police department found it difficult to prove that the dangerous hit was based on instructions from Uchida and Inoue, as the statements they made during police questioning were consistent and their involvement could not be supported by objective evidence, such as video footage, according to the sources. <strong>Jiji Press</strong>