YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — A USS Kitty Hawk sailor was arrested Saturday night and accused of grabbing a Japanese police officer and damaging police car property.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Brandon Victor Irwin, 21, was arrested for obstructing a police officer’s official duties and destruction of property near the train station in Zama, a Zama police spokesman said Tuesday. Zama, home to a U.S. Army base, is 25 miles southwest of Tokyo.
Irwin, of Naval Air Facility Atsugi, was picked up at 10:45 p.m. Saturday after police fielded a phone call from a convenience store clerk who said Irwin was stumbling and yelling outside, the spokesman said.
Police told Irwin — through a translator — that they were taking him in and put him in the back seat of a police car, the spokesman said.
Police said Irwin started yelling, then leaned toward the policeman in the driver’s seat.
They accused him of grabbing the policeman’s left arm, bending the security divider behind the seat.
The 43-year-old police officer was not injured, the spokesman said.
Irwin remains in Japanese custody. The case was referred to the Yokohama Public Prosecutor’s Office in Sagamihara on Monday, the spokesman said.
