Soldier faces hearing over suicide
Probe opens into death of 19-year-old who killed himself after alleged hazing, racist taunts
Kabul (AP) An American soldier charged with abuse that led to the suicide of a 19-year-old fellow soldier in Afghanistan is facing a preliminary hearing yesterday on a base in the country, the US military said.
The hearing came as two more members of the international force in Afghanistan died of what Nato described as “non-battlerelated” injuries and two Afghan police were killed by a roadside bomb.
Specialist Ryan J. Offutt is charged with offences i ncluding maltreatment, involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide in the death of Private Danny Chen, the military state- ment said. Offutt is one of eight infantrymen charged in connection with the suicide.
Chen shot himself in a guardhouse October 3 in Afghanistan after what investigators say were weeks of racial slurs, humiliation and physical abuse.
Offutt, 32, of Greenville, Pennsylvania 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.
Danny Chen
He had told relatives he endured weeks of racial teasing and name calling while in training in the US.
After arrivi ng i n Afghanistan, i nvestigators said, Chen was subjected to hazing by members of his unit, the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division based in Fort Wainwright, Alaska.
Chen’s family has said i nvestigators told t hem 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.
On the day of his death, he had reported to the guard tower without his helmet or adequate water and was forced to crawl about 100 metres across gravel carrying his equipment.