Suicide of Danny Chen

Early life

Chen was born and raised in Chinatown, Manhattan, New York City, New York where his father works as a chef and his mother as a seamstress. His parents are immigrants from Taishan, a coastal city in Guangdong province, China.

Danny graduated from Pace University High School in Manhattan in 2010. He received a full scholarship offer to Baruch College in Manhattan. However, he joined the army in January 2011, and planned on returning to New York City to serve with the New York City Police Department.

Career

Pvt. Chen served with C Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, which is based in Fort Wainwright, Alaska. He was later deployed with his unit to Kandahar province in Afghanistan.

Mistreatment

Military investigators found that Chen was the target of ethnic slurs and endured physical attacks at the hands of his fellow soldiers before his death. Chen had been physically and verbally abused by his superiors who singled him out for being Chinese-American. This occurred on a daily basis for six weeks. As the only American soldier with Chinese ancestry in the unit, he was singled out, endured taunts including racial slurs like "gook", "chink", "Jackie Chan", "Soy Sauce" and "dragon lady,", assigned excessive guard duty to the point of exhaustion, made to do push-ups while holding water in his mouth, put in a “simulated sitting position” and kicked by other soldiers using their knees, among other abuses.

He was allegedly pelted with stones by fellow soldiers and forced to crawl across gravel until his death. On September 27, 2011, a sergeant dragged Chen out of bed and over 15 metres (49 ft) of gravel, leaving visible bruises and cuts on Chen's back. Although the incident was reported to Chen's platoon sergeant and squad leader, it was not reported to superior officers. On October 3, 2011, the day he died, other soldiers forced him to crawl on gravel for over 100 metres (330 ft) while carrying equipment, as his comrades threw rocks at him.

Burial

Chen received a military funeral at a cemetery in Valhalla, New York, on October 13, 2011.

Investigation and legal consequences

On December 21, 2011, the US Army charged eight soldiers with various crimes relating to Chen's death:

All the defendants belonged to C Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division. They faced various charges, including assault, dereliction of duty, involuntary manslaughter, maltreatment, making false statements, negligent homicide, and reckless endangerment.

Following a series of Article 32 hearings on March 5, 2012, investigators dropped the most serious charge, involuntary manslaughter, which carries a maximum penalty of ten years in prison, against the defendants. However, four of the eight soldiers were then recommended for court-martial on the remaining charges such as negligent homicide, which carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison. Subsequent trials were held at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

A 2009 graduate of West Point, Daniel Schwartz of Maryland was Chen's platoon leader. Following a pretrial hearing at Kandahar Air Field, he was recommended for court-martial on February 12, 2012. He faced eight counts of dereliction of duty, including failure to promote "a climate in which everyone is treated with dignity and respect, regardless of race" and "to prevent his subordinates from maltreating and engaging in racially abusive language." Furthermore, he stood "accused of failing to report two soldiers for consuming alcohol in violation of military rules and failing to report one of those soldiers for 'recklessly' detonating a hand grenade near their base."

Reaching a deal with prosecutors in December 2012, Schwartz did not face trial, and the charges against him were dropped. Instead, he was dismissed from the Army, following a nonpublic Article 15 proceeding. Specifics regarding his punishment were not disclosed.

Adam Holcomb

30-year-old Sgt. Adam Michael Holcomb of Youngstown, Ohio was the first of the soldiers involved in Chen's death to stand trial. He faced charges including negligent homicide, reckless endangerment, communicating a threat, assault, maltreatment of a subordinate, dereliction of duty and violating a lawful general regulation, which combined carried a maximum prison sentence of up to 17 years and 9 months. He pleaded not guilty. The trial was conducted at Fort Bragg. He was cleared of most of his serious charges, and was sentenced to thirty days in jail for assault, along with demotion by one rank and a fine. His sentence outraged members of the community, including Asian Americans and civil rights activists.

Ryan Offutt

In August 2012, it was reported that Spc. Ryan J. Offutt pleaded guilty to one count of hazing and two specifications of maltreatment. Offutt made a plea deal, resulting in charges of negligent homicide and reckless endangerment being dropped. Offutt had called Chen "chink," "gook," "fortune cookie," "squint eye" and "egg roll," and had kicked and thrown rocks at Chen. He was sentenced to six months in prison. On appeal, the court of appeals dismissed the six month sentence and only approved punishment of reducing him in rank to E-1 and being discharged with a Bad Conduct Discharge.

Travis Carden

In October 2012, it was reported that Spc. Travis Carden received a "bad conduct discharge" and was demoted to private after pleading guilty to charges which included attempting to impede an investigation, and striking and pushing another soldier and negligently discharging a pistol in a government van during the altercation. Carden had previously been found guilty of ordering Chen to perform demeaning physical tasks, and calling him racially disparaging names. He was sentenced to ten months in prison.

Andrew J. VanBockel

In November 2012, a military jury convicted Staff Sgt. VanBockel of hazing, dereliction of duty and maltreatment of a subordinate. He was demoted two ranks, reprimanded and forced to perform 60 days of hard labor, of which only 45 days were credited due to pre-trial confinement. In Afghanistan, VanBockel was Chen's squad leader at Combat Outpost Palace.

Legacy

A stretch of Elizabeth Street in Chinatown, Manhattan is now Private Danny Chen Way, renamed in honor of Chen.