A Homeland Security inspector of the United States was charged Friday with violating a Chinese tourist's civil rights following an altercation that left the innocent woman's eyes nearly swollen shut and bumps and bruises on her face and head. The incident occurred late Wednesday at the Rainbow Bridge on the US-Canadian border in Niagara Falls, after Customs and Border Protection officers confiscated marijuana from a male pedestrian. Officer Robert Rhodes, mistakenly believing the Chinese woman standing nearby was involved, allegedly sprayed her with pepper spray, threw her against a wall, kneed her in the head as she knelt on the ground and struck her head on the ground while holding her hair, according to witnesses. ... The picture of her says a thousand words. Moral of the story: If a Homeland Security inspector asks you to come to the "inspection station" (whatever that is,) don't run. If you do, they'll grab you, spray you with pepper spray, and issue you a beating. I'd like to think officer Rhodes is just one bad apple, but after the systematic prison abuse in Iraq, for this to be popping up on the radar domestically, this is not boding well for our image. U.S. officer arrested for beating a Chinese | 
