Yokosuka Based Sailor Sentenced to Three Years in Jail for Deadly Accident Near Mt. Fuji

The Japan based sailor that killed two people after falling asleep at the wheel has received a three year sentence:

A U.S. naval officer charged in a car crash that killed two pedestrians broke down in tears as a Japanese judge found him guilty of negligent driving on Monday. 

Lt. Ridge Hanneman Alkonis, 33, was sentenced to three years in Japanese prison during a hearing at Shizuoka District Court in Numazu, a punishment just short of the 4½-year-sentence requested by prosecutors. Alkonis’ defense attorneys, on the other hand, had asked for a suspended sentence, effectively a term of probation. 

Alkonis was charged with negligent driving causing death and injury after his car crashed into pedestrians and parked vehicles at a soba restaurant parking lot in Fujinomiya on May 29. The city is in Shizuoka prefecture, about two hours from Yokosuka Naval Base, where he’s stationed as a weapons officer aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but ROK Heads may remember that Lt. Alkonis tried to claim that high-altitude mountain sickness from his visit to Mt. Fuji is what caused him to fall asleep. The judge did not buy that argument and I agree with him. It is probably more likely that Alkonis fell asleep because he was exhausted after getting up very early to hike up and down Mt. Fuji.

Regardless it is a tragic accident that should remind everyone that if you are drowsy you should not drive.