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.
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