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U.S. navy officer arrested for drunk driving in Japan

Xinhua, June 5, 2016 Adjust font size:

A U.S. Navy officer was arrested on Sunday for drunk driving in Japanese southernmost island prefecture of Okinawa.

The drunk driving left two local people injured, according to local reports.

The Okinawa prefectural police arrested 21-year-old Aimee Mejia, a petty officer 2nd class stationed at the U.S. Kadena base, said Japan's Kyodo News, adding that she is suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol in the town of Kadena late Saturday, crossing into the opposite lane and colliding with two vehicles.

Mejia's alcohol reading in a breath test was as much as six times than the level allowed by law, local police was quoted as saying, and two people in the two collided vehicles were injured.

The case follows a death of an Okinawan woman who was killed by a U.S. former marine corps last month. The woman's death prompted the Japanese government to lodge protests with U.S. government, including one that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe lodged with U.S. President Barack Obama when he visited the island country for a summit of the Group of Seven.

The latest case came after the U.S. Forces based in Okinawa imposed a midnight curfew and alcohol ban off base for about a month due to the arrest of the former marine corps, Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, who is on suspicion of killing and dumping the body of the 20-year-old woman in late May.

Okinawan people are expected to launch a large scale of rally against the crimes conducted by U.S. military officers later this month. An Okinawan schoolgirl was raped by three U.S. servicemen in 1995 and triggered strong protests by locals.

The Okinawa prefectural government is reportedly to seek a fundamental overhaul of the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement due to the violent crime.

"We believe that U.S. military base personnel have the idea in the back of their mind that they are protected by the pact even if they commit a crime," an Okinawa prefectural government official was quoted by Kyodo as reporting, adding that "a drastic revision to the pact" is the only solution for changing that way of thinking.

Okinawa hosts over 70 percent of U.S. bases in Japan and local government and residents have called for moving the bases out of the prefecture, but the urge is rejected by the U.S. and Japanese central government. Endit