Japan police arrest 3 teachers in nursery abuse case

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Police have arrested three teachers at a nursery school in central Japan on suspicion they routinely abused toddlers, including hitting their heads, holding them upside down and locking them up in a bathroom, in a case that triggered outrage and allegations of a cover-up. The Shizuoka prefectural police said they arrested three women on Sunday on suspicion of assaulting at least three toddlers in June at a nursery school in the city of Susono at the foot of Mount Fuji. Susono Mayor Harukaze Murata told reporters Monday that he also filed a criminal complaint against the school director for allegedly covering up the abuses. He urged police to widen their investigation. The teachers reportedly told investigators that their treatment of the toddlers was “discipline.”