5 years ago
By Rich Kellman Senior Correspondent
The verdict is not guilty in the Federal civil rights case against border security agent Robert Rhodes. Rhodes was accused of using unreasonable force against Chinese businesswoman Yan Zhao when officers tried to stop her for questioning at the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls last summer.
Witnesses say Rhodes kneed her in the face and slammed her head into the ground. At a news conference after his acquittal, Rhodes denied he did either. "I did not," he said when asked whether he did what the witnesses claimed.
Rhodes' defense said he acted appropriately, given that she struggled with Rhodes and other officers when they tried to handcuff her. "It was Zhao Yan who was in control from the very beginning," said Rhodes, using the ethnic Chinese order of last name first. "If she had not resisted," he said, "we would not be here today. I did my job."
Asked what he thought of Yan Zhao's testimony for the prosecution, Rhodes said, "I think she was coached from the beginning. She has a $10-million lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security. The jury seemed interested (in her testimony) at the start, but after a while, they seemed to lose interest."
Rhodes says his legal defense and lost income total around $100,000. He hopes to return to work with Homeland Security in the same job he had when the border incident happened just over a year ago.
The case caused an international furor, with China reprimanding the United States for allegedly violating the human rights of a foreign visitor while lecturing China on its human rights record.
