A U.S. civilian working at Camp Lester died Monday, Feb. 12, 2024, after his car, pictured here at Okinawa Police Station the next day, ran up a curb and struck a roadside tree. (Mari Higa/Stars and Stripes)

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — A civilian contractor at the Marine Corps’ Camp Lester died Monday morning after his car crashed in Okinawa city, according to Japanese police.

Eugene Warfield, 68, was southbound on Route 85 in the Koja area at 8:16 a.m. when his blue Mazda RX-7 rode up on the curb and struck a roadside tree, an Okinawa prefectural police spokesman told Stars and Stripes by phone Tuesday.

Warfield was pronounced dead at 8:47 a.m. at a central Okinawa hospital.

“We are currently investigating the cause of the accident,” the spokesman said.

Police are trying to determine Warfield’s speed at the time and what caused the crash, a spokesman for the Okinawa Police Station said by phone Tuesday. Warfield was alone in the car.

Police were still awaiting autopsy results as of Wednesday afternoon.

Warfield was a contractor working as an anti-terrorist inspector for the Defense Policy Review Initiative at Marine Corps Installations Pacific, Marine spokesman Capt. Brett Dornhege-Lazaroff said by phone Tuesday.

“We are working with the host nation and civil authorities,” he said.

Some government officials in Japan speak to the media only on condition of anonymity.