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Officer acquitted in beating of Chinese tourist
(AP)
Updated: 2005-09-09 11:21
BUFFALO, N.Y. - A U.S. border officer was acquitted Thursday of violating a
Chinese tourist's civil rights when he pushed her head into the pavement and
pepper-sprayed her at the U.S.-Canada border.
Customs and Border Protection Officer Robert Rhodes speaks to the
media at a news conference after the verdict, from the
U.S. Federal Courthouse in Buffalo, N.Y., September 8, 2005. [AP]
| Government prosecutors claimed Homeland Security
officer Robert Rhodes used excessive force against Zhao Yan, 38, a businesswoman
from Tianjin who was touring Niagara Falls in July 2004.
Rhodes told investigators he believed the woman might have been associated
with a drug suspect and ordered her inside the Niagara Falls inspection station,
but she took off running.
He said he followed proper Customs and Border Protection procedure in
subduing the struggling woman and denied striking her or slamming her face to
the ground by her hair.
"I feel that I was vindicated and now I can put my life back together,"
Rhodes said at his attorney's office after leaving the courthouse under the
protection of federal marshals.
The case provoked anger in China after pictures of Zhao, her face swollen
from pepper spray and her eyes and forehead bruised, were widely published.
Defense attorney Steven Cohen said Rhodes would like to
return to the job he has held for 17 years.
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