Here’s your weekly reminder of how quickly alcohol can get the better of you. An Aichi Prefecture city legislator attacked a nurse while drunk, inflicting an injury that required a week to recover. She’s now out of a job after claiming she didn’t remember the vicious attack.
Japanese Communist Party (JCP) member Matsui Yumiko, 48, served as a legislator in the city of Tsushima, Aichi Prefecture. On December 13th, after attending a party with her friends, she collapsed drunk on the street. Concerned residents, who saw that she had multiple injuries on her face, called an ambulance.
Matsui came to at the hospital and subsequently, for some reason, physically attacked three staff members. She kicked one woman, a 40-something nurse, in her back chest. She also kicked a paramedic in the stomach. The nurse required a week of recovery before her injuries healed.
Matsui initially told colleagues she “didn’t remember” the incident. Her lame excuse didn’t sit well with voters and other assembly members, who criticized her for dodging responsibility.
At a press conference on December 20th, Matsui announced her resignation.
Matsui told reporters that she wasn’t a big drinker. “All I drank was beer,” she contended. “I wasn’t aware that I was dead drunk.”
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Asked what her relationship with alcohol would be like after this incident, Matsui replied, “I’m never drinking again. I’m quitting.”
Matsui says she tried to go to the hospital to apologize to the nurse and another staff member, a trainee, whom she assaulted. She says both employees refused her apology.
The Japanese Communist Party also issued an apology to the people of Aichi.
“We will seriously reflect on how to avoid this in the future and will do everything in our power to restore the people’s faith in the JCP.”
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