Hyogo: Drunk man arrested after clinging to outside of last train

HYOGO (TR) – Hyogo Prefectural Police arrested a 44-year-old intoxicated male office worker after he clung to the side of a railway carriage as it departed a station in Kobe early Tuesday, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Apr. 3).

At around 1:10 a.m., Shigeki Nagao, an office worker residing in Akashi City, grabbed hold of a door of the local train after it started to move at JR Sannomiya Station. The conductor halted the train after it traveled about 7 meters.

Station personnel alerted police after their Nagao resisted their efforts to pull him from the side of the train, which was the last in operation until several hours later.

Police subsequently accused Nago, who had been drinking before the incident, of disrupting business operations. “I thought that if I couldn’t ride [the train] I couldn’t get home,” the suspect was quoted by the Fukiai Police Station.

The train originated in Kyoto. In order to reach his destination of JR Nishi-Akashi Station, the man would have had to have clung to the door over a distance of 22 kilometers.

There were no injuries to any of the roughly 700 passengers. About 20 minutes after the incident, train departed Sannomiya Station, police said.