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 Sunday on a base in the country, the US military said. Spc. Ryan J. Offutt is charged with offenses including maltreatment, assault, involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide in the death of Pvt. Danny Chen, the military said in a statement. 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, Pa., 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. An attorney for Offutt could not immediately be contacted.
Chen, a native New Yorker of Chinese descent, had only been in Afghanistan for two months when he killed himself. He had told relatives he endured weeks of racial teasing and name calling while in training in the US.
After arriving in Afghanistan, investigators 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 investigators told them 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.
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