Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) announced Sunday that Chinese authorities have released a 25-year-old American college student detained a week ago.
“I am thrilled to report we just received an email from Guthrie McLean’s mother that ‘prayers answered, Guthrie is home,’ ” Daines said in a statement.
McLean was taken into custody by Chinese authorities after allegedly injuring a taxi driver who had gotten into an argument with his mother a week ago, according to The Associated Press.
“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 safely reunited with his mother,” he continued.
McLean’s mother claimed that the police demanded $7,400 in compensation and said they would imprison her son for three years if she did not pay up.