Houston Police Send Chinese Diplomat to Hospital

by Emily Rand 

CBS News has learned Ben Ren Yu, a diplomat stationed at China's consulate in Houston, Texas was arrested and injured Saturday night by Houston police who were unaware he was a diplomat when they cuffed him on consulate property.

 

 

 

According to information obtained by CBS News, Deputy Consular General Yu, 53,  was driving in Houston with another passenger, when a marked Houston Police car attempted to pull him over for a missing license plate.

Yu did not slow down and kept driving to the Chinese Consulate, entering a garage via an automatic door with officers in pursuit.

 

 

 

Multiple Houston PD officers chased Yu into the building and placed him in handcuffs. The officers were unaware the building Yu entered was the Chinese Consulate, according a source.

 

 

 

The Chinese diplomat sustained injuries to his head and neck during the arrest and was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital by ambulance. The other passenger, Ms. Ging Hua Deng, was not injured.

 

 

 

"We have demanded the U.S. side to abide by the Vienna Convention on consular relations and the China-U.S. treaty on consular relations," Wang Zhihong, Consul at the Chinese Consulate in Houston, told CBS News.

 

 

 

The Houston Police Department has not yet responded to requests for comment.