-- The Chiba District Court ordered the national government to pay 150,000 yen in damages to a 33-year-old American for an injury inflicted by guards at the Tokyo Detention House, where he had been held.
The court acknowledged the claims of Keith Dickerson, of Santa Barbara, Calif., who was demanding 3.3 million yen from the government over his fight with prison officials, saying the man "was mentally agonized" by the incident.
According to the court, Dickerson, who had been detained at the facility on a theft charge, was leaving his cell in September 1995 at the end of his detention, when the scuffle took place.
He started running around wildly when he was reprimanded by guards for saying goodbye and waving to other detainees, the court said.
Five guards then jumped on him and stripped him to see if he was concealing a weapon, the ruling said, adding that he sustained an injury to his face that required about three weeks of treatment.
Presiding Judge Kishiro Kawashima basically agreed with the government's argument that the guards' response was reasonable but ruled that stomping on the man with their shoes went too far.