China holds U.S. student over cabbie fray

BEIJING — Police in central China arrested an American college student on charges of intentional injury after an altercation with a taxi driver, according to the student’s mother and a family friend.

Guthrie McLean was formally arrested in the city of Zhengzhou earlier this week, said Tom Mitchell, the Beijing bureau chief for the Financial Times who has known the University of Montana student since 2001.

McLean was trying to protect his mother from a taxi driver in a dispute that occurred June 10, Mitchell said.

McLean’s mother, Jennifer McLean, said in an email to The Associated Press that she has not seen or directly communicated with her son since his arrest but was able to pass messages to him Thursday through the U.S. Consulate. “He is enduring,” Jennifer McLean said.

A U.S. official contacted McLean in detention Thursday and reported no physical or mental-health concerns related to McLean’s detention, according to Marnee Banks, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont..