TOKYO, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo police on Tuesday referred the case of a former senior bureaucrat who was involved in a fatal car crash that killed a three-year old girl and her mother in April to prosecutors.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department after a seven-month investigation concluded that Kozo Iizuka, former head of the Agency of Industrial Science and Technology, was responsible for the fatal collision, rather than there being a problem with his car.
The police had examined the car of the 88-year old and concluded that there were no mechanical problems that could have resulted in the fatal crash.
Iizuka drove his passenger car through pedestrian crossings in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district, hitting 31-year-old Mana Matsunaga and her three-year-old daughter Riko who were riding on a bicycle.
The mother and daughter were killed and eight others, including Iizuka and his wife who was in the passenger seat at the time, were injured.
He has said that he may have mistaken the gas pedal for the brake, investigative sources had said, but based on the car's dash-cam recorder, police believe Iizuka stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake before plowing into the pedestrians.
His car began to accelerate from the site of the crash and switched lanes a number of times to pass other cars and was traveling at almost 100 kilometers per hour when it entered the pedestrian crossings, the police said.
Police have not revealed whether Iizuka admitted to the charge of negligence resulting in death.
