The attorney for Robert Rhodes, a Homeland Security officer charged with violating a Chinese tourist's civil rights, contended that "intense political pressure" and greed are driving the case, which has attracted the attention of Chinese and US diplomats.
"It is clear to me that someone is attempting to use Robert Rhodes as a pawn in a much bigger game," attorney Steven Cohen said on Friday.
Responding to reports that Zhao Yan, 37, is suing the US for US$5 million following a beating at Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls, Cohen said his client was following Customs and Border Protection procedure when he used pepper spray and physical force to subdue the woman on July 21.
"Everyone's been talking about civil rights in this case," the lawyer said. "What about the rights of our officers to protect our borders as they have been trained to do, as we need them to do?"
Rhodes, 43, could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
Rhodes said in a statement that Zhao and two other women ran when he asked them to come into the inspection station at the bridge linking Niagara Falls, New York, and Niagara Falls, Ontario.
An affidavit by a senior Homeland Security agent cited witness accounts of Rhodes spraying Zhao's face, throwing her against a wall, kneeing her and striking her head on the ground.
The China Daily newspaper published a front-page photo of Zhao last Monday, showing her with one eye swollen shut and cuts on her forehead. The businesswoman was quoted as calling the US "the most barbarous" country she had visited.
The official Xinhua News Agency reported that China's foreign minister demanded in a phone call with US Secretary of State Colin Powell that US border officials be punished. Powell said he would "inquire into the issue," the agency reported.
Meanwhile, US Attorney Michael Battle said his Buffalo office received a letter from the Chinese ambassador to the US expressing gratitude that the incident was being taken seriously.
But Battle said the decision to charge Rhodes was made well before there had been any contact between US and Chinese officials, and before Zhao announced her intention to sue.
"None of that influenced us at all," Battle said.
Cohen estimated that Rhodes has processed more than 8 million people entering the US over his 17-year career.
"But now the same government that Officer Rhodes has committed most of his adult life to protecting finds itself under tremendous international pressure to prosecute Officer Rhodes," he said.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS