Waddle told not to visit Japan
By Mike Gordon and David Butts
Advertiser Staff Writers
Retired Navy commander Scott Waddle, whose submarine accidentally rammed a Japanese ship last year off O'ahu, killing nine people, has been told by his attorney that he should not visit Japan to give a personal apology to families of the victims.
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Charles Gittins, who represented Waddle during a court of inquiry into the collision, said he fears his client could be arrested by a Japanese prosecutor "wanting to make a name for himself."
Scott Waddle has said he wanted to see the families of the victims.
The advice comes as attorneys for the families of two of the victims say they are prepared to sue the U.S. government if their claims for compensation and a personal apology from Waddle are not met. The claims were filed last October.
"There is absolutely no chance that he would be arrested in Japan," said Mayumi Fujiwara, the Tokyo attorney representing the families. "He has not violated any Japanese law. Perhaps he just doesn't want to come."
The families are about to mark the first anniversary of the collision, which strained U.S.-Japan relations, ended or damaged once-promising Navy careers and cost the United States more than $60 million to recover the bodies of the lost crew.
Waddle's nuclear submarine, the USS Greeneville collided Feb. 9, 2001, with the Ehime Maru, a Japanese fisheries training vessel, during an emergency surfacing drill nine miles south of Diamond Head.
The Navy determined that Waddle had cut corners and rushed his crew to surface the submarine in a maneuver that was designed to showcase its high-tech abilities to 16 civilian guests. Although Waddle was not held criminally liable, the Navy's punishment ended his career.
Before he retired in October, Waddle had said several times that he wanted to travel to Japan, although he also said he feared an arrest.
"I have advised him not to do that," Gittins said Tuesday in a telephone interview from Virginia. "The claims are not settled and I don't know enough about the Japanese legal system to know that if he walked off a plane in Tokyo, could a prosecutor take him into custody?"
Even if such an arrest ultimately was proven illegal under Japanese law, it would cause problems for his client, Gittins said.
"Maybe they couldn't prosecute him successfully, but that doesn't mean they don't try to take him into custody," Gittins said. "My goal is to keep Scott out of jail."
Waddle has declined requests for interviews.
Fujiwara, who is representing the families of Yusuke Terata, 17, and Toshimichi Furuta, 47 — said her clients want Waddle to come to Uwajima, the home of the nine victims, to make a formal apology.
Terata's mother, Yasumi, said in October that the Navy had offered as much as $1 million to each of the victims' families.
The Navy won't discuss specific details about the claims.
The families are expecting a response to their demands from the U.S. Navy by the end of this month, Fujiwara said recently in a telephone interview from her Tokyo office.
"We will go to court if we don't get what we want," Fujiwara said.
Last month, Navy negotiators met with the families of the victims and their attorneys in Tokyo and told them they would make efforts to respond to their requests, including a possible visit by Waddle to Japan, the Kyodo News Service reported.
Lt. Patrick McNally, a Navy spokesman at the Pentagon, said negotiations "continue to be productive," but would not release details.
Representatives from the Office of the Judge Advocate General, the commander of U.S. Navy Forces, Pacific, and the Navy Legal Service Office are working with the families' attorneys, he said.
"It is too soon to tell when and if the various claimants will settle with the United States," McNally said. "The U.S. Navy continues to respect the privacy of the claimants in this matter."
The Navy has no more power over Waddle.
"He has retired and is no longer on active duty," McNally said. "He is now a private citizen and free to visit Japan if he so desires."
The victims' families are not asking the Navy to order Waddle to Japan, Fujiwara said, but want the Navy to request that he come as a gesture to the families.
Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8012. Reach David Butts at dbutts@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2453.
