Danny Chen, a 19 year old infantryman assigned to Company C, 3rd Battalion of 25th Infantry Division, in Afghanistan, died on October 3, 2011.  Initial reports said he shot himself in the head.

Now the U.S. Army has charged eight U.S. soldiers in connection with Chen’s death: 1st Lt Daniel J. Schwartz, Staff Sgt Blaine G. Dugas, Staff Sgt Andrew J. Van Bockel, Sgt Adam M. Holcomb, Sgt Jeffrey T. Hurst, Sgt Travis F. Carden, Spc Thomas P. Curtis and Spc Ryan J. Offutt.

They are charged with dereliction of duty, maltreatment, involuntary manslaughter, assault consummated by battery, and reckless endangerment.

But get this, the U.S. Army would never had investigated if it wasn’t for Chen’s hometown of Chinatown, in New York City! The Asian community demanded the Army investigate.

The U.S. Army investigators discovered that Chen was subjected to physical abuse and ethnic slurs, because he’s ethnically Chinese.

This is the second such case. The first involved the death of Harry Lew, a U.S. Marine from California.  Lew was subjected to brutal hazing in Afghanistan.  The USMC quietly court martialed Lew’s attackers in October of this year.