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8 Soldiers Charged Following Suicide of Hazing Victim

HeadlineDec 22, 2011

The Army has announced eight soldiers are being charged in the death of an Army private who apparently took his own life in Afghanistan earlier this year. Nineteen-year-old Danny Chen was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head in October. Chen’s family said he had been subjected to race-based hazing, with soldiers forcing him out of bed, throwing rocks at him, calling him ethnic slurs and forcing him to do push-ups with his mouth full of water. The eight soldiers have been charged with crimes ranging from dereliction of duty to manslaughter. In a related case, a group of Marines was recently court-martialed following the suicide of Lance Cpl. Harry Lew, an Asian-American soldier who military prosecutors say also killed himself after being hazed.

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