AFP wrote:
TOKYO (AFP) —]he poured kerosene over himself in front of police[/B]," a police spokesman said.

Kubota refused to change his kerosene-soaked clothes at the police station and asked to smoke during questioning, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun and other Japanese media.

Despite no-smoking rules in the building, a police official gave him a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. When Kubota stood up, his right knee was ablaze and he quickly turned into a fireball, the reports said . . .
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kurohinge1 wrote:[SIZE="4"]Kerosene-soaked man dies after being given lighter in Japanese police station[/SIZE]



I love the way that's worded - like violation of the no-smoking rule was the crime, rather than handing a kerosene-soaked man a lighter. Negligent homicide, anyone?

Midwinter wrote:You simply can't write comedy like this

At some point, Kubota gained access to a lighter and subsequently caught fire.

When officers came to his house, "he poured kerosene over himself in front of police," a police spokesman said.

alicia454 wrote:The fact is, the police should be directly responsible for those in custody.

alicia454 wrote: . . . And even if the man did indeed soak himself in kerosene and ignited himself, the police are still guilty of negligent homicide for handing him a lighter.

alicia454 wrote:Considering the ethics of the Japanese police, who torture suspects regularly, I am still not convinced that the police did not deliberately light him on purpose during questioning, or even initially doused him with the kerosene. (Sign this confession immediately or you will burn!)

There doesn't seem to be any other witnesses (other than the corrupt police) at the police station or his home. I doubt there is any video as well.

The fact is, the police should be directly responsible for those in custody. And even if the man did indeed soak himself in kerosene and ignited himself, the police are still guilty of negligent homicide for handing him a lighter.

xenomorph42 wrote:I couldn't agree more, just doesn't quite add up. There "is" something a little fishy about the whole story.

A police sergeant tried to cover up an investigation blunder after he and his colleagues gave a kerosene-soaked man a lighter for a cigarette during questioning, and the man fatally set himself alight, investigators said. A 54-year-old sergeant at Atsuta Police Station in Aichi Prefecture has admitted to having taken away the lighter and an ashtray from the interrogation room and hiding them right after the fatal fire. Aichi Prefectural Police sent papers accusing the sergeant, as well as two senior officers aged 28 and 25 and a 24-year-old officer who brought the lighter into the interrogation room, of professional negligence resulting in death. "I thought it would not look good if it turned out that we let the man smoke inside the interrogation room, as smoking is prohibited," the sergeant told investigators in admitting to the allegations. The four officers took custody of Hifumi Kubota, 45, an unemployed man from Nagoya, late at night on May 10 after he was found drunk and had soaked himself in kerosene, according to local police. The officers questioned Kubota at their police station from around 11:15 p.m. to 12:15 a.m. the following day.

When the officers tried to have Kubota undergo a sobriety test, he demanded that he be allowed to smoke a cigarette. "I'll agree if you let me smoke," he was quoted as telling the officers. The policemen then brought in a cigarette, a lighter and an ashtray while neglecting to watch over Kubota, investigators said. Kubota lit the lighter and subsequently caught fire. After the incident, it emerged that the lighter and the ashtray had disappeared from the interrogation room. One of the three policemen, who were inside the interrogation room, initially told police, "We don't know what happened to them (the lighter and the ashtray)." However, it turned out later that the 54-year-old sergeant had taken away the objects from the room after the incident and hid them in the kitchen at the police station. The ashtray was later discovered, but the lighter has reportedly not turned up yet, according to police. Investigators suspect that a third person unaware of the circumstances may have taken the lighter. The three policemen told investigators that they didn't see how the fire started, but a police experiment proved that clothes would not catch fire from a cigarette flame alone. Aichi Prefectural Police have determined that Kubota's clothes caught fire directly from the lighter.