{"id":79252,"date":"2026-08-24T08:20:03","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T08:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/79252\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T08:20:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T08:20:03","slug":"us-japan-step-in-after-sailor-leaves-without-paying-bodily-injury-victims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/79252\/","title":{"rendered":"US, Japan step in after sailor leaves without paying bodily injury victims"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"An<\/p>\n

\n Zushi, a popular beach near Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, is pictured on March 22, 2024. (Akifumi Ishikawa\/Stars and Stripes)
\n <\/p>\n

YOKOSUKA, Japan \u2014 Four years after a U.S. sailor injured four people<\/a> at a beach south of Tokyo, the victims have received about half of their court-ordered compensation from the U.S. government, while Japan is expected to cover the rest, according to their attorney.<\/p>\n

The U.S. paid the victims about $53,500 on Aug. 12, attorney Masahiko Goto told Stars and Stripes by phone Monday. They are still owed another $50,000, he said. The amount they receive is based on the severity of their injuries. <\/p>\n

The payment was made ex gratia, meaning voluntarily and without an admission of liability or legal obligation, U.S. Forces Japan spokesman Air Force Col. John Severns said by email Monday. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Government of Japan may also provide separate assistance or payments under its own procedures, as it determines appropriate,\u201d he wrote. <\/p>\n

The compensation stems from a July 2022 incident at Zushi Beach, where Petty Officer 2nd Class Daniel Krieger, then a logistics specialist aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Milius, charged into and injured a group of people. <\/p>\n

A Japanese court convicted<\/a> Krieger in September 2024 on four counts of bodily injury and sentenced him to two years and four months in prison, suspended for four years. <\/p>\n

In a separate civil lawsuit<\/a>, the Yokohama District Court in April 2025 awarded the four victims approximately $103,811 in damages. Individual payments ranged from about $3,300 to $67,000. <\/p>\n

By then, however, Krieger had left Japan without paying the judgment, Goto said. <\/p>\n

Krieger, still a petty officer second class, reported in December 2024 to Fleet Readiness Center Southwest in San Diego, according to a biography provided Friday by U.S. Naval Forces Japan spokesman Cmdr. Joseph Keiley. <\/p>\n

The victims could pursue Krieger through U.S. courts but were uncertain whether they could collect the money even if successful, Goto said. <\/p>\n

Instead, they sought compensation through Japan\u2019s South Kanto Defense Bureau under procedures associated with the U.S.-Japan status of forces agreement, which governs the rights and responsibilities of U.S. military personnel in Japan. <\/p>\n

The victims filed another claim Wednesday seeking the approximately $50,000 that remains unpaid, Goto said. He expects Japan to provide the money by the end of the year. <\/p>\n

A defense bureau declined to discuss the case by phone Friday, citing privacy concerns, but said compensation claims are handled in accordance with the SOFA. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe claims for damages filed by the four victims have finally moved significantly closer to resolution after four years,\u201d Goto said. <\/p>\n

He criticized how long the process took and questioned why Krieger was allowed to leave Japan without paying the judgment. <\/p>\n

Goto also questioned why the U.S. paid only about half the damages, leaving Japan to \u201cshoulder the remainder,\u201d he said in a statement emailed Friday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zushi, a popular beach near Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, is pictured on March 22, 2024. (Akifumi Ishikawa\/Stars and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8,5389,17,50702,2078,50701,50703],"class_list":["post-79252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-japan","tag-japan","tag-japan-sofa","tag-japanese","tag-petty-officer-2nd-class-daniel-krieger","tag-us-forces-japan","tag-zushi-beach","tag-zushi-beach-attack"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}