A Chinese businesswoman faced the US Homeland Security officer accused of beating her during a dramatic courtroom encounter, where she vowed she will "always remember his face."
"How could I not know him," Zhao Yan cried on Tuesday when asked whether the officer was present in the US District Court. "He beat me up with savagery and brutality. I will always remember his face my whole life."
The declaration, delivered through an interpreter, ended Zhao's first day on the stand in the trial of Customs and Border Protection Officer Robert Rhodes.
The veteran officer is charged with violating Zhao's civil rights by using excessive force while taking her into custody at the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls last July.
Zhao testified that she believed three or more officers took part in the beating. Only Rhodes has been charged.
Zhao, 38, who owns a furniture company in Tianjin, is suing the US government for US$10 million over the July last year incident that drew intense interest in China after pictures of Zhao, in a wheelchair with scrapes on her forehead and two black eyes, were widely published.
Zhao, who frequently cried while describing her visit to Niagara Falls, New York, had made the stop during a business trip to the US, which she said was at the invitation of Pennsylvania economic development officials.
After taking a tour bus from New York City to Niagara Falls, Zhao and two women she had met over dinner came upon a US customs inspection station during a nighttime sightseeing outing. Zhao's companion, Xie Fang, testified on Monday that they peered through the doors and saw an officer pinning a black man to the floor, then became frightened when Rhodes beckoned toward the women and rushed to the door.
While the two other women ran, Zhao testified that she froze, fearing she would be shot.
When Rhodes approached her, she said she spoke to him in broken English: "I'm from China, on business to America. My visa in my bag."
But the officer doused her with pepper spray, sending her dazed and blinded to the ground, she said.
"My whole face was burning then I felt a strong blow," she said. "I saw dark. There were stars before my eyes."
"My feeling was there were three or more than three [officers] who were surrounding me and somebody was kicking me on my face," said Zhao, who at times had difficulty speaking through her sobs.
Zhao said she could not see her attackers through the pepper spray, and identified only Rhodes when asked by defense lawyer Steven Cohen whether the officer who had used the pepper spray was in the courtroom.
The trial was attended on Tuesday by several Chinese students attending college in Buffalo, who said they were there to support Zhao, as well as representatives from the Chinese Consulate General's office in New York City.
FRUSTRATIONS: One in seven youths in China and Indonesia are unemployed, and many in the region are stuck in low-productivity jobs, the World Bank said Young people across Asia are struggling to find good jobs, with many stuck in low-productivity work that the World Bank said could strain social stability as frustrations fuel a global wave of youth-led protests. The bank highlighted a persistent gap between younger and more experienced workers across several Asian economies in a regional economic update released yesterday, noting that one in seven young people in China and Indonesia are unemployed. The share of people now vulnerable to falling into poverty is now larger than the middle class in most countries, it said. “The employment rate is generally high, but the young struggle to
STEPPING UP: Diminished US polar science presence mean opportunities for the UK and other countries, although China or Russia might also fill that gap, a researcher said The UK’s flagship polar research vessel is to head to Antarctica next week to help advance dozens of climate change-linked science projects, as Western nations spearhead studies there while the US withdraws. The RRS Sir David Attenborough, a state-of-the-art ship named after the renowned British naturalist, would aid research on everything from “hunting underwater tsunamis” to tracking glacier melt and whale populations. Operated by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the country’s polar research institute, the 15,000-tonne icebreaker — boasting a helipad, and various laboratories and gadgetry — is pivotal to the UK’s efforts to assess climate change’s impact there. “The saying goes
ENERGY SHIFT: A report by Ember suggests it is possible for the world to wean off polluting sources of power, such as coal and gas, even as demand for electricity surges Worldwide solar and wind power generation has outpaced electricity demand this year, and for the first time on record, renewable energies combined generated more power than coal, a new analysis said. Global solar generation grew by a record 31 percent in the first half of the year, while wind generation grew 7.7 percent, according to the report by the energy think tank Ember, which was released after midnight yesterday. Solar and wind generation combined grew by more than 400 terawatt hours, which was more than the increase in overall global demand during the same period, it said. The findings suggest it is
TICKING CLOCK: A path to a budget agreement was still possible, the president’s office said, as a debate on reversing an increase of the pension age carries on French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday was racing to find a new prime minister within a two-day deadline after the resignation of outgoing French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu tipped the country deeper into political crisis. The presidency late on Wednesday said that Macron would name a new prime minister within 48 hours, indicating that the appointment would come by this evening at the latest. Lecornu told French television in an interview that he expected a new prime minister to be named — rather than early legislative elections or Macron’s resignation — to resolve the crisis. The developments were the latest twists in three tumultuous
RSS