BILLINGS, Mont. -- Chinese authorities have dropped charges against an American college student who was arrested and detained in the Asian nation a week ago after reportedly injuring a taxi driver who was roughing up his mother in a fare dispute, a U.S. lawmaker said Sunday.
Guthrie McLean, a University of Montana senior, was released from a detention center in the central China city of Zhengzhou early today local time, according to Republican Sen. Steve Daines of Montana.
"We are very, very very, very happy," Jennifer McLean wrote in an email to The Associated Press. She said the release -- at 2 a.m. local time when her son was delivered to her doorsteps -- came as a surprise after she'd twice been told to anticipate a release only to be disappointed.
"They have not finished the process completely, but we are hopeful it will go smoothly from here on," she said.
The release followed an agreement with Chinese authorities to drop any charges against Guthrie Mclean, according to Daines.
Further details on the agreement were not disclosed. Local police in China could not be reached this morning for comment on the case.
Daines and U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat, and Rep. Greg Gianforte, a Republican, had pressed McLean's case with China's Ambassador to the U.S. Cui Tiankai and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. The lawmakers said McLean had been justifiably defending his mother, who is deaf, from the driver, whose knee was reportedly hurt in the encounter.
The college student majoring in East Asian studies was detained five weeks later, on July 16, on charges of intentional injury.
Jennifer McLean had alleged that police demanded the equivalent of $7,400 in compensation from the family and threatened to imprison her son for up to three years if they refused to pay.
Daines said the family did not pay that amount, but he declined to comment further.
"We were able to come to an agreement that worked for everybody, most importantly for Guthrie and for Jennifer, his mother," Daines said in a conference call with reporters.
The State Department declined to comment on its involvement in the case or the agreement with Chinese authorities. Tester and Gianforte issued statements Sunday saying they were pleased with the outcome of the case.
Guthrie McLean has been a student at the University of Montana in Missoula for about two years and worked for the past year in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures, his boss, Olivia White, has said.
He largely grew up in China after living in Missoula as a young child while his mother was studying at the university, White said.
A Section on 07/24/2017