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Naval Officer Jailed in Japan in Deadly Crash Transferred to US Custody, His
Family Says

by Associated Press

   Washington --

   A Navy officer jailed in Japan over a deadly car crash that killed two
   Japanese citizens has been transferred into U.S. custody and is being
   returned to the United States, his family said Thursday.

   Lt. Ridge Alkonis had been serving a three-year prison sentence after
   pleading guilty to the negligent driving deaths of an elderly woman and
   her son-in-law in May 2021.

   "After 507 days, Lt. Ridge Alkonis is on his way home to the United
   States. We are encouraged by Ridge's transfer back to the United States
   but cannot celebrate until Ridge has been reunited with his family,"
   the family, based in Dana Point, California, said in a statement to The
   Associated Press. "We appreciate the efforts of the U.S. Government to
   effect this transfer and are glad that an impartial set of judiciary
   eyes will review his case for the first time."

   It was unclear where in the U.S. Alkonis is heading or whether upon his
   arrival in the country he might be required to spend any additional
   time behind bars under the terms of his transfer from Japan.

   "We appreciate the efforts of the U.S. Government to effect this
   transfer and are glad that an impartial set of judiciary eyes will
   review his case for the first time," the family statement said.

   The statement added: "When the Biden Administration is presented with
   the complete set of facts and circumstances surrounding the case, we're
   confident they will promptly recognize the absurdity of Ridge's
   conviction."

   Alkonis' family has said the naval officer abruptly lost consciousness
   in the car after a lunch and ice cream excursion with his wife and
   children to Mount Fuji, causing him to slump over behind the wheel
   after suffering acute mountain sickness. But Japanese prosecutors and
   the judge who sentenced him contend he fell asleep while drowsy,
   shirking a duty to pull over immediately.

   In the spring of 2021, after a period of land-based assignments, the
   Southern California native was preparing for a deployment as a
   department head on the USS Benfold, a missile destroyer.

   On May 29, 2021, with the assignment looming, his family set out for an
   excursion of Mount Fuji hiking and sightseeing.

   They had climbed a portion of the mountain and were back in the car,
   heading to lunch and ice cream near the base of Mount Fuji. Alkonis was
   talking with his daughter, then 7, when his family says he suddenly
   fell unconscious behind the wheel. He was so out of it, they say, that
   neither his daughter's screams to wake up nor the impact of the
   collision roused him.

   After the crash near Fujinomiya, he was arrested by Japanese
   authorities and held for 26 days in solitary confinement at a police
   detention facility, interrogated multiple times a day and was not given
   a medical treatment or evaluation, according to a statement of facts
   provided by a family spokesman. That statement says that when American
   authorities arrived to take Alkonis into custody and return him to a
   U.S. base, he already was held by the Japanese.

   He was indicted on a charge of a negligent driving, resulting in death,
   and was sentenced to three years in prison.

   After the sentencing, Alkonis' family had sought to keep the case in
   the public spotlight, including by gathering outside the White House.
   President Joe Biden also raised the case during a meeting last May with
   Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

   Alkonis is a specialist in underseas warfare and acoustic engineering
   who at the time of the crash had spent nearly seven years in Japan as a
   civilian volunteer and naval officer.