US expresses "great regret" over beating of Chinese citizen

People Daily ^ | July 30, 2004

[Dr. Marten]

US expresses "great regret" over beating of Chinese citizen

      

US State Department on Thursday expressed regret over the beating of Chinese businesswoman Zhao Yan by officers of the US Customs and Border Protection.

"We regret the apparent mistreatment of a Chinese national by a US customs officer in the Niagara Falls. We have communicated to the Chinese Government that the US customs officer was arrested by the Customs and Border Patrol Police and his case referred for criminal prosecution," the State Department said in a statement.

"Secretary (Colin) Powell has been very clear that America is an open society. We welcome visitors from around the world, and our goal is to ensure that they have a safe and enjoyable stay in the United States. The United States will continue to work to ensure that incidents such as this one do not occur again," the statement said.

US Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has expressed "great regret" over the beating of Chinese businesswoman Zhao Yan by officers of the US Customs and Border Protection last week, officials of the Chinese embassy said on Thursday, July 29.

In a telephone call to Lan Lijun, charge d'affaires of the Chinese embassy, Ridge described the beating of the Chinese businesswoman as "a horrible incident" which was "totally unacceptable" and expressed "great regret" to the Chinese government and people.

Ridge said that Robert Rhodes, the first officer of the US Customs and Border Protection to attack Zhao Yan, had been charged with felony assault, Chinese embassy officials said.

Ridge said he had asked the US Customs and Border Protection officers to take measures to prevent such incidents from happening again, Chinese embassy officials said.

Zhao Yan, a businesswoman from China's northern coastal city of Tianjin, was on her first US business trip when she was attacked at the Niagara Falls near the US-Canadian border on July 21 by Rhodes and other officers of the US Customs and Border Protection.

Zhao Yan said on Wednesday that six days after she was brutally attacked, she was still suffering from a bad headache, swollen eyes and mental trauma. She also had a broken tooth and severe back pains which forced her to ride a wheelchair.

Because of the sharp physical pain and mental trauma caused by the beating, she could "barely sleep two to three hours a day."

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, during a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Monday, urged the US government to carry out a thorough investigation intothe attack and bring those responsible for the incident to justice.

In a letter to Li Zhaoxing on Thursday, Powell promised that the US government would thoroughly investigate the beating case.

 

[monday]

"So they shouldn't be allowed to arrest someone who attempts to smuggle in illegal items"

Of course arrest them once they submit to a search. Just don't go running after them if they don't, and certainly don't beat the hell out of them if they don't.

Is this really that difficult for you to understand?

you said "Are we to assume that no one could possibly get past customs anyway, so there's no need for deterrence?"

You think that beating up people who refuse to be searched would be a deterrence? How about not letting them into the country? Wouldn't that work too? A side benefit would be that there would be fewer lawsuits as well.

I am sure it is possible to get past customs, but I don't agree that beating up people is a deterrence. You search people and either you find drugs and arrest them, or you don't find drugs, and they get away with it.

Beating people should not be an official policy of law enforcement, and if it is, then the person or persons who designed that policy should join the customs official in prison.

[LonghornFreeper]

>>To put it more precisely, he had probable cause to believe that she had drugs, assuming the facts reported are correct.

If just being in the same general area as someone who is caught with drugs (which is what the report says happened here) is considered probable cause, we have gone a lot farther down the slope than I feared. Especially considering that it occured near a popular tourist destination like Niagara Falls. If I am at a ballgame and somebody a few rows away has drugs do the cops have the right to detain and investigate (read strip search, other humiliating methods) me?

[inquest]

Of course arrest them once they submit to a search. Just don't go running after them if they don't

That's where I disagree. If there's probable cause to believe that someone's involved in a smuggling operation, it's perfectly legitimate for the appropriate authority to arrest him or her, just as it's legitimate for any law enforcement authority to arrest someone whom he has probable cause to believe is doing or has done something illegal.

You think that beating up people who refuse to be searched would be a deterrence?

That's a completely dishonest strawman. You know perfectly well that she wasn't beaten for refusing to be searched, but for attacking the agent. Your crediblity just took a major blow.

[inquest]

If just being in the same general area as someone who is caught with drugs (which is what the report says happened here) is considered probable cause, we have gone a lot farther down the slope than I feared.

There's more to the report than that. It states that at first, the agent merely called over the three women who were nearby, and two of them immediately scampered off. The one who was left hesitated, and then began to flee as well. Logic, at this point, would strongly suggest that the two women who ran were almost definitely involved in the operation, and that therefore, given the circumstances, it's more likely than not (i.e., probable cause) that the third was also involved.

Even then, it's not a given that she would have been intensively searched. It's most likely that the agent just wanted to ask her some questions. If she then checked out, they may very likely would have let her pass with only the standard searches.

[monday]

"That's a completely dishonest strawman. You know perfectly well that she wasn't beaten for refusing to be searched, but for attacking the agent. Your crediblity just took a major blow."

BS... she didn't attack the agent, he attacked her. In your twisted mind you think she ran up to him and attacked him? sheesh... she was defending herself after he attacked her.

Whats the point in debating with you? You know as well as I do that she was beaten for refusing to be searched, ie. trying to get away. The government knows it, and when it goes to trial the judge and jury will know it. This guy is going to lose and it will probably cost the govt a few hundred thousand if not millions.

The guy will probably get probation but he can kiss his job goodbye, or they might kick him upstairs, give him a desk job. Govt agencies have a nasty habit of protecting and promoting their worst.

[eleni121]

Did you actually read the article? Apparently not.

She attacked the customs officer first. He did what he is authorized to do: subdue a maniac.

[Dr. Marten]

Very interesting....

I stand corrected.

Thank you for posting the link. I look forward to hearing more about this.

[Dr. Marten]

"You're kidding right? They could beat me all they want for 5 million dollars, that's crazy."

Well, if it had happened as she claims, then I definitely think punitive damages would be in order. However, after reading the article posted at the above link...I think the patrol officer should file a counter suit of defamation should he be proven innocent.

[eleni121]

There is lots coming out on this. This story presents a balanced view.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--officercharged0730jul30,0,3409250.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire

[inquest]

Actually that story is not well balanced. It omits a very key fact and creates a very wrong impression. It suggests that Rhodes began pepper-spraying her and throwing her against the wall merely in response to her attempt to flee, without mentioning that he first tried to apprehend her the normal way, and she started fighting him.

Very inexcusable distortion, but very typical of the AP.

[eleni121]

You are right about AP...and about how the article omits the fact of the woman actually starting the fracas. She started kicking him and that is being conveniently left out of the more recent articles.

The article does however point to the financial interests that are coming into play...the lawsuit.

[monday]

"She attacked the customs officer first."

You've got to be kidding. She was trying to get away. He chased her and then attacked her. Did YOU read the article?

[Leatherneck_MT]

Well I can think of no reason short of her pulling an Uzi from under her skirt, for Customs Officers to "Beat" her.

If this is in fact what happened.

However, the trial hasn't been had yet. Let's wait for the verdict before we jump on the String 'em up bandwagon.

[eleni121]

From the article I posted earlier in the thread which you apparently did not read:

"What they didn't say is what they didn't see," Cohen (the attorney or the accused officer) said. "They didn't see her fighting with Officer Rhodes, when she was kicking and scratching him."

Don't be so quick to jump to conlusions.

[Smiling-Face TIGER]

Well said

One must not jump to conclusions

A suggestion to the US Custom Dept " You guys should at least train your officers in the Martials Arts so that they can at least reprehend a suspect without too much injuries to the suspect-----more so if she happens to be female"

It's a joke for a Superpower to be seen to best up womenfolk-----NOT an heroic thing to do, isn't it?

[eleni121]

"It's a joke for a Superpower to be seen to best up womenfolk-----NOT an heroic thing to do, isn't it?"

You gotta be kidding right? "Womenfolk" can get downright nasty and dangerous...witness the homicide bombers and the Chechnyan incident of recent memory.

If it is true that this female was kicking and punching the officer you are darned right he should defend himself -with pepper spray and with any other means at his disposal.