A police school instructor in western Japan accidently stabbed an officer with a survival knife during a role-playing exercise in December, and left him hospitalized for days, police officials admitted Wednesday.
While the instructor at the Okayama Prefecture training college has said he did not intend to injure the officer, he was fined ¥500,000 ($4,600) for professional negligence resulting in injury, and admonished by his boss.
The injured officer quit in January and has filed a damages suit over the case, they said.
During the exercise, the instructor played a criminal wielding a fake Japanese sword. He was persuaded to drop the weapon but then took out the survival knife and stabbed the officer twice in the chest.
Fake knives are supposed to be used in training, but the survival knife was real, according to the Okayama Prefectural Police.
Although the blade of the knife was covered, one of the wounds penetrated the officer's lung, and the officer spent the following days in hospital, they said.
In March, local prosecutors summarily indicted the instructor, who is also a police inspector, and the Okayama Summary Court ordered him to pay the fine the next month.
Okayama police authorities declined to give further details citing an ongoing trial, but said they would deal with the matter sincerely.