University of Montana student Guthrie McLean was freed Sunday after spending almost a week in a detention center in China.
McLean described himself as sleep deprived and overwhelmed in an interview over Skype Sunday evening with the Missoulian.
Jennifer McLean was reunited with her son at about 2 a.m. Monday local time in China; noon Sunday in Montana, said Sen. Steve Daines, who helped negotiate his release.
“I’m happy, frustrated and overwhelmed,” Guthrie McLean said.
McLean was arrested July 17 because he had intervened weeks earlier in a confrontation between his hearing-impaired mother and a local taxi driver. The driver said his knee was injured after Guthrie McLean shoved him.
Police had questioned both McLeans on July 16 and had demanded money in exchange for Guthrie McLean's release. When Jennifer McLean left the room where they were being questioned at a police station, she was not allowed back in and was told she could go home. Her son was held and arrested the next day.
“I was worried and I had a feeling they were keeping her from coming back and they had made her leave,” Guthrie McLean said. “I was kind of scared and didn’t really know what was going to happen.”
According to a timeline from Daines' office, negotiations for the UM student's release began on July 18, a day after he was sent to the detention center that his mother had described as "one of the worst in China.''
Guthrie McLean said he had no idea what was being done while he was being detained. He said police at the detention center told him he was going to jail because there was no proof the driver had hurt his mother, but the driver had injuries. He said the experience wasn’t typical of his life in China.
“This incident was done as part of the actions of a taxi driver and a few old-fashioned thinking police officers,” Guthrie McLean said.
He thought he was being lied to by everyone and was always worried he was going to say something that would get him into more trouble.
“You can start to get creepy paranoid,” Jennifer McLean said.
Aside from interrogations by the police, Guthrie McLean said the detention center had about the same accommodations someone would find while camping. There was a shower and toilet in one room and a deck where the people detained could sleep. He and about 20 others were held in the room together.
There was a tentative release agreement made on July 21, but when Jennifer McLean went to finalize paperwork, the police told her they were unaware of any deal. She contacted Daines' office, who reached the Chinese embassy to discuss the confusion.
About two hours before her son was released Sunday, Jennifer McLean said in an email she had received a letter from him, but believed it would be a few more days before she might get a chance to see him again.
"I am hopeful, but cautious that this will all end Monday or Tuesday," she said in an email sent to the Missoulian Sunday morning. "Wally Hsueh and Jason Thielman at Senator Daines office have been working on a solution almost 24/7 since last Monday. I am very grateful to them."
She had said police were demanding compensation for the driver's injuries before releasing her son, something she termed a "shakedown'' that initially started at $14,800 but dropped over time.
The exact terms of Guthrie McLean’s release are still being reviewed and finalized late Sunday.
A Youcaring site to raise money to help pay for Guthrie McLean's release was set up by two other UM students, Caitlin Wind and Zakk Winch.
On Sunday, the site announced his release with this note: "We have yet to get in contact with his mother, we will see if she will accept what you wonderful people have raised in order to cover the costs of his release. If she does not accept, then we will either refund you (by sending us a direct message asking for this) or give it to a charity of their choice. Thank you all!"
The site had raised about $600 at the time of Guthrie McLean's release.
Calling the donations a “wonderful gesture,” Jennifer McLean has said she wants this money returned, because it was requested in the event there would be legal fees, which there have not been, she said.
“I’m grateful to have my son,” she said.
The 25-year-old UM senior was visiting his mother, who lives and teaches in China, when he was arrested in Zhengzhou in Henan Province.
He grew up in China and is the only child of his single mother. He attended a university in China but had transferred to finish his degree in Montana.
McLean plans to return to Missoula Aug. 29.
Daines, who spent six years in China as an executive with Proctor and Gamble, spent the weekend talking with both the Chinese and U.S. embassies, the Chinese government and local officials, his office said.
Sen. Jon Tester, who also had been working to free McLean, said the resolution "is a testament to what can be accomplished when we turn up the heat and hold government accountable.''
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