Kidnapping? No, say accused kidnappers!

[Snowboarder_Bo]

I’m at a loss to come up with an explanation for their alleged behavior that isn’t kidnapping (and breaking and entering, etc.).

Investigators said the pair assaulted Tianshu Shi, a student at IASCO Flight Training, at his apartment last month and forcibly took him to the city airport. The 21-year-old student who went by “Chris” sustained minor injuries.

Police said that an audio recording, as well as other information, appears to show McConkey, as well as Hoser, “acted in concert while committing the burglary and kidnapping.”

Their attorney denies the charges, of course:

“There’s a lot more to this case than a 3-minute undercover audio that Chris made,” John Runfola, who represents McConkey, told the newspaper. “I think that everyone is going to have a different opinion (about what happened) once the full content comes out for the public to review.”

The article closes with this bit:

Hoser told detectives that Shi had failed the flight school on April 1, saying he could not speak English clearly enough and could not communicate with the FAA operator.

Which only encourages speculation due to it’s lack of information.

So I went looking for the local news story, and it makes things seem even worse:

“You are in my (profanity) custody right now. Do you know what that means? I will forcibly remove your ass,” he is heard saying on the recording. “Your ass is getting on a plane right now. I will break your (profanity) arm. You better believe I’m (profanity) threatening you.”

Runfola has said he believes Shi set up McConkey on the audio and deliberately left out portions the public hasn’t heard about.

The lawyer, Runfola, makes several derogatory comments about the defendant and a witness, but I won’t quote them here; I mention it only because I found it distasteful, which is prolly the opposite effect intended.

During an earlier interview with the Record Searchlight, Runfola said McConkey had been at his “wit’s end” with Shi, who flunked out of the flight school, and was trying to get him to pack his belongings for a flight back to China.

“It was meant to motivate him to move,” he has said.

According to the police report, the student and witnesses said McConkey threatened to break Shi’s arm if he did not get into a van so he could be flown to San Francisco for a flight to China.

Shi, who did not want to go back, and others also told police that McConkey grabbed Shi by his right arm and shoved him into a kitchen counter and onto the ground.

During subsequent police interviews with Shi inside a private conference room, the police report said, McConkey twice entered the room “seemingly for not legitimate purpose.”

The officer interviewing Shi said the young man, quickly sat up straight, his body tensed and “had a look of what I perceived to be fear on his face,” the police report said, adding Shi “physically relaxed” as soon as McConkey left.

So the central thing seems to be that he failed the flight school due to poor English and then had 30 days to leave the country, but didn’t.

Not sure why that became the flight school guy’s problem, tho.

[TokyoBayer]

@Snowboarder_Bo

Not sure why that became the flight school guy’s problem, tho.

I don’t know how it works in the US, but in Japan then if students stop attending the school or otherwise do things which violate the conditions for the visa, then it becomes a problem for the school.

In Japan, if it happens too many times, then the school loses the ability to sponsor students’ visas.

A quick google suggests that it’s the school’s responsibility to monitor the students’ visas.

They may be more strict about this than before, when things were pretty lax.

[Riemann]

Breaking and entering, assault, kidnapping? After they’ve done their nickel, no doubt the TSA will hire them.

[jayjay]

@Riemann

Breaking and entering, assault, kidnapping? After they’ve done their nickel, no doubt the TSA will hire them.

Or ICE.

[Sunny_Daze]

I’ve looked at several articles. This flight school has a pattern of charging airlines $70-$90k to train pilots. They fail the students (at least a percentage of them), keep the money, send the students home. At least one student said that he and his family would owe the money back to the airline.

One student was grounded for letting a friend use the bathroom. The school was going to send him home before this happened.

[Riemann]

@Sunny_Daze

This flight school has a pattern of charging airlines $70-$90k to train pilots. They fail the students (at least a percentage of them), keep the money, send the students home. At least one student said that he and his family would owe the money back to the airline.

Assault and kidnapping is a problem, but I’m not sure what you think is wrong with anything that you’ve written here.

What are you insinuating by a “pattern” of charging a certain price? Presumably they state a price for the service they provide, and airlines choose to pay it. If they are getting business, it’s reasonable to assume that their prices are in line with the market - training airline pilots is not cheap.

As for failures - are you suggesting a “trophies for everyone” approach to pilot training? Don’t you think people who don’t reach the required standard should be failed? It seems to me that failing students is only likely to cause problems for the flight school, and it would be a sign of lack of integrity if they were not failing some students.

And for failures, if the tuition has been provided, why would tuition fees be refunded, unless the contract provides for this? Such a contract would be unusual. Do universities refund tuition if you fail your exams?

As for students being liable for the costs of training: that’s between the student and his airline, not the flight school. And if that’s the case, the student must have freely signed a contract requiring him to pay if he fails, or he would be under no obligation to do so.

[Voyager]

The two kidnappers have been arrested.

One thing that I haven’t seen is what their graduation rate is. Is this person a rare failure, or do they just let anyone in, keep their money, and fail most of them? I can’t find any evidence either way. None of that excuses vigilante action by the two kidnappers.