CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — A 25-year-old sailor admitted to driving the U.S. Navy Humvee involved in a hit-and-run in the Camp Schwab area, Okinawa police said Friday.
A 45-year-old Okinawa man and his two sons were slightly injured when the military vehicle rear-ended their compact car on Route 329 in Henoko about 10:55 p.m. Tuesday. An eyewitness told police she saw the Humvee speed away after the impact.
Okinawa police found an abandoned Navy Humvee about seven miles south of the collision scene with its engine still running. A Navy spokeswoman said the sailor, a petty officer third class, was apprehended by military police about two hours later as she was walking down the road.
An Okinawa police spokesman said the sailor was not in uniform.
The sailor, a member of a Gulfport, Miss., unit deployed to Camp Shields on Okinawa, has been in military custody since the incident. She was transported to an Okinawa police station in Kadena on Thursday for questioning.
“She told our investigators that she took the Humvee truck from the base and drove it after consuming alcohol at her on-base residence,” a police spokesman said Friday. “Shortly after she was apprehended by military authorities near where she abandoned the truck, Okinawa police officers gave her a Breathalyzer test at the request of the military officers.”
The spokesman said the test “detected alcohol exceeding the legal limit” but would not be more specific.
The military and Okinawa police have not released the sailor’s name. According to a police report, the Humvee was spotted speeding and had sideswiped another vehicle just before the crash. The driver of the compact, a Henoko man who works on Camp Schwab, had just pulled onto the road from a local laundromat. He complained of whiplash and a bruised hip. His 2-year-old son was treated at a local hospital for facial cut, and his 10-year-old son was bruised, police said.
