US soldier to appear before abuse hearing
Source: Agencies |
January 16, 2012, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
AN American soldier charged with abuse that led to the suicide of a 19-year-old fellow soldier in Afghanistan was due to face a preliminary hearing late yesterday on a base in the country, the US military said in a statement.
Specialist Ryan J. Offutt is charged with offenses including maltreatment, assault, involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide in the death of Private Danny Chen, the military said. Offutt is one of eight infantrymen charged in connection with the suicide.
Chen shot himself in a guardhouse on October 3 in Afghanistan after what investigators say were weeks of racial slurs, humiliation and physical abuse.
Offutt, 32, of Greenville, Pennsylannia, was charged in December along with seven others in the same unit. He joined the army in 2006 and served 14 months in Iraq before being deployed to Afghanistan.
Chen, a native New Yorker of Chinese descent, had only been in Afghanistan for two months when he killed himself.
He had told relatives he endured weeks of racial teasing and name calling while training in the US.
After arriving in Afghanistan, investigators said, Chen was subjected to hazing by members of his unit based in Fort Wainwright, Alaska.
Chen's family has said investigators told them that at a remote base in southern Afghanistan, he was subjected to racial slurs and forced to do excessive sit-ups, push-ups, runs and sprints carrying sandbags.
Specialist Ryan J. Offutt is charged with offenses including maltreatment, assault, involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide in the death of Private Danny Chen, the military said. Offutt is one of eight infantrymen charged in connection with the suicide.
Chen shot himself in a guardhouse on October 3 in Afghanistan after what investigators say were weeks of racial slurs, humiliation and physical abuse.
Offutt, 32, of Greenville, Pennsylannia, was charged in December along with seven others in the same unit. He joined the army in 2006 and served 14 months in Iraq before being deployed to Afghanistan.
Chen, a native New Yorker of Chinese descent, had only been in Afghanistan for two months when he killed himself.
He had told relatives he endured weeks of racial teasing and name calling while training in the US.
After arriving in Afghanistan, investigators said, Chen was subjected to hazing by members of his unit based in Fort Wainwright, Alaska.
Chen's family has said investigators told them that at a remote base in southern Afghanistan, he was subjected to racial slurs and forced to do excessive sit-ups, push-ups, runs and sprints carrying sandbags.
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