DUI Man kills three, gets 7 and a half years

The Japanese laws for people that kill someone while under the influence are excruciatingly lax. Almost a year and a half ago (August 25th, 2006) a 22-year-old man, Futoshi Imabayashi, rammed his car into the back of an SUV at a speed of about 50mph, pushing it off a bridge. Imabayashi continued on, fleeing from the scene. Meanwhile, the car that was pushed off the bridge, plummeted into the river below. Inside the car, a family of 5: father, mother, and 3 small children ages 4, 3, and 1.

The father and mother were able to climb out of the sinking car, but the 3 small children weren't able to. The mother went under four times to try and save their children. She managed to recover them, but it was too late. The three children died.

The car Imabayashi was driving stopped after about 330 yards due to the damage from the accident. He then apparently placed a call to his friend for a liter of water in an attempt to dilute the alcohol in his system. He later returned to the scene of the accident. When police finally measured his blood alcohol, it was 40 minutes after the accident. The Imabayashi's blood alcohol was measured at .25 mg per liter, which under Japanese law falls under "driving under the influence of SOME alcohol." The police never officially ran other tests on Imabayashi to see just how drunk he was.

NOTE: According to some reports, Imabayashi drank 1 glass of beer (.74 pints), 9 glasses of Japanese liquor (1.14 pints), and a few glasses of watered down brandy prior to the accident.

The lawyers for Imabayashi claim that the man's blood alcohol wasn't high enough (that he wasn't drunk enough) and that the accident was caused due to negligent driving. So instead of getting a possible 25 years for driving while under the influence, Imabayashi gets a simple slap on the wrist of 7 and a half years.

Amazing.

And from what I gather, the laws in Japan make it fairly difficult to prove an accident was caused due to excessive drinking. From what I'm hearing on the news, it seems like there are certain requirements that need to be cleared, like running a red light, swerving while driving, crashing into things... But apparently Imabayashi was able to drive without any problems up until he crashed in the SUV, so therefore the accident was not caused due to alcohol. Imabayashi's lawyers used a loophole to get him off the hook.

Stunned.