Police in Moriguchi City arrested a 44-year-old construction worker on suspicion of attempted murder after he allegedly backed his minivan into an 11-year-old boy on a bicycle.
The incident took place at around 6 p.m. on Friday on a narrow local road. Four elementary school students were riding their bicycles when they passed the suspect's oncoming vehicle, after which he honked his horn. Yohei Takimoto then reversed his minivan, striking the rear of the victim's bicycle before driving away.
The boy fell and sustained a minor head injury. Eyewitness accounts and security camera footage indicated that Takimoto accelerated in reverse to hit the bicycles. He turned himself in at a police station two hours later.
Takimoto has denied the allegation. He was quoted as saying, "I didn't mean to hit him."