Documentary ‘On The Way Home’ alleges prejudice by police towards people with intellectual disabilities in Japan

By Barrier Free Japan with extracts from Kyodo

February 25 2023

TOKYO – At approximately 6PM on September 25th, 2007, 25-year-old Kenta Yasunaga was cycling home from a workshop he regularly attended in Saga Prefecture, southwestern Japan, when police officers attempted to stop him, believing him to be acting suspiciously.

However, Kenta Yasunaga had difficulties in communicating due to his autism.

According to Mie Sakamoto reporting for Kyodo:

“[t]he sound of the police’s loud siren caused him to panic. He fled on his bicycle, but crashed into a motorbike that had stopped for a red light and was thrown onto the road.

After Kenta stood up, five officers seized him as he fiercely resisted and moaned in distress. His hands were cuffed behind his back, and he soon fell unconscious.”

Kenta Yasunaga would later die at the hospital to which he was taken and his cause of death was found to be acute cardiac arrest.

A new documentary titled ‘On The Way Home’ produced by Tsuyoshi Fujioka, challenges what happened to Yasunaga. For example, it “claims that that injuries were discovered all over his body following the incident” and that when Kenta’s father, Takayuki told the police that his son had autism, “the officer appeared shocked”, the police had apparently attributed Kenta’s behavior to “mental derangement.”

Only one officer would be charged over the incident and was acquitted.

The documentary can be found on YouTube and there are four versions with Japanese subtitles and with sign language.

知的障害のある安永健太さんの死亡事件を考える (Kenta Yasunaga supporters Website): https://yasunagajikenwokangaeru.blogspot.com