A University of Montana student has been released from a Chinese detention facility after being arrested for getting into an altercation with a cab driver over a fare, a U.S. senator said Sunday.
Chinese authorities released 25-year-old Guthrie McLean who was reunited with his mother before 2 a.m. local time Monday, Montana Republican Senator Steve Daines said in a statement.
Daines said his office received a statement from the student’s mother, Jennifer McLean, saying “prayers answered, Guthrie is home.”
“After days of working the phones with top Chinese and American officials to secure Guthrie’s freedom from a Chinese detention facility, he has been reunited with his mother,” the senator stated.
The student, who was visiting his mother in China this summer, argued with a cab driver who refused to give his mother 30 yuan ($5) in change on June 10.
A U.S. Senator says Guthrie has been reunited with his mother.
(Jennifer McLean/AP)
A family friend told KPAX-TV that the taxi driver was roughing up Guthrie’s mother, which led to Guthrie throwing him on the ground.
Weeks later, police arrived at McLean’s home looking for Guthrie to arrest him. They also demanded he paid $7,400 in damages, the mother said.
The family failed to come up with the amount, and police arrested McLean on July 16 in the city of Zhengzhou.
Guthrie spent most of his life in China before traveling to Montana to study East Asian studies.
A former political opponent of Sen. John McCainJohn McCainManchin bashes GOP candidate for pushing McCain to resign McCain’s primary challenger asks him to step aside after diagnosis Sen. McCain goes on hike after cancer diagnosis MORE (R-Ariz.) urged him to step down from his office one day after he was diagnosed with brain cancer.
Kelli Ward — who lost to McCain last year in Arizona’s Republican primary and is now running to challenge Sen. Jeff FlakeJeff FlakeMcCain’s primary challenger asks him to step aside after diagnosis Sen. Flake’s GOP challenger: McCain should resign Senators who have felt McCain’s wrath talk of their respect for him MORE (R-Ariz.) — said this week that “the medical reality of [McCain's] diagnosis is grim,” and he should consider stepping down and having her take his place.
“Senator McCain has an aggressive brain cancer that is both devastating and debilitating. When the time comes that Senator McCain can no longer perform his duties in the Senate at full capacity, he owes it to the people of Arizona to step aside,” Ward said in an interview with an Indiana radio station this week.
Ward continued, saying that if McCain does leave office, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey would be required to appoint a replacement senator to serve until the 2018 midterm election. When asked if her name was being considered as a replacement, Ward responded: “I certainly hope so.”
“Because, you know, I have a proven track record from years in the state Senate of being extremely effective and of listening to the voice of the people that I represent,” she said.
Her comment came after McCain’s office announced Wednesday that the 80-year-old senator had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer.
McCain has said he will be back soon and thanked people for the outpouring of well-wishes he has received since the diagnosis.
Ward previously suggested in a Politico interview last year that McCain was likely to die in office and is too old for the job.
Ward has faced backlash following the comments this week, including Sen. Joe ManchinJoe ManchinManchin bashes GOP candidate for pushing McCain to resign McCain’s primary challenger asks him to step aside after diagnosis Governors-turned-senators meet to talk healthcare MORE (D-W.Va.) who said she lacked integrity and honor.
