Okinawa police arrested a U.S. Marine on suspicion of drunken driving Friday night, Kyodo news agency reported.

The story said the Marine, assigned to Camp Kinser, was arrested around 7 p.m. after crashing his car into three other cars and slightly injuring two people. Police told Kyodo they detected alcohol on his breath.

U.S. military personnel in Japan have been subject to an 11 p.m.-5 a.m. curfew since Oct. 19, when two sailors were accused of gang-raping a Japanese woman. Several servicemembers have been arrested for alcohol-fueled misbehavior since the curfew was imposed, leading the commander of U.S. Forces Japan to announce a new policy Friday morning requiring troops to be accompanied by a “battle buddy” when going to off-base bars and other places that serve liquor.

Lt. Gen. Sam Angelella directed each of the services to begin implementing the program immediately, although each base and post was allowed to set its own interim rules until an island-wide policy can be worked out next week.



The Marine arrested Friday night was not violating the curfew, but it was unclear Saturday whether he was accompanied or if he was subject to the “battle buddy” policy at the time of the incident.



