1 week Ago By WLS
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Two Chicago college students jailed in Denmark have been released, police confirmed. Two college students, both United States citizens from the Chicago area, have been accused of assault while visiting Denmark on their spring break, according to a statement by Copenhagen police. Owen Ray, a 19-year-old studying at the Miami University in Ohio, and his unnamed friend were detained at Copenhagen Airport on April 1 over an alleged dispute with an Uber driver the night prior, Jordan Finfer, a U.
S.-based attorney for Ray's family, told ABC News. A Copenhagen police spokesperson tells ABC News in a statement, "The Copenhagen Police can confirm, that on March 31, two American citizens were arrested in Copenhagen, and on March 31 they were brought before the court charged with common assault.
They were sentenced to 10 days pre-trial detention. This verdict has since extended until April 24." A lawyer said later Monday they have not been charged.
Ray's Denmark-based attorney, Eigil Strand, confirmed to ABC News that as of 10:50 p.m. Danish time on Sunday, both of the young men were still being detained.
But on Monday, Ray's parents said he the 19-year-old had been released from the Danish prison. "We are relieved that Owen has been released from a Danish prison following the unprovoked assault he and his friend suffered at the hands of an Uber driver on March 31. However, we remain deeply concerned that Danish authorities have confiscated his passport and will not allow him to return to the United States - something we understand is unusual in Danish court proceedings.
The facts make clear that Owen is the victim in this case, and we urge Danish officials to allow him to return home to the United States without delay," parents Andy Ray and Sara Buchen-Ray said in a statement to ABC News. Police later confirmed to ABC News that both students had been released. In an account relayed to Finfer, who then shared the details with ABC News, Ray said that he and a friend were in an Uber on March 31 when they realized they had entered the wrong address for their destination -- and the driver allegedly refused to take them anywhere else.
All parties -- Ray, the friend and the Uber driver -- eventually got out of the car, and an altercation then allegedly occurred, Finfer said, based on Ray's account. "The Uber driver came back around, got out of his car," Finfer said. "Informed Owen and his friend that he had called nine of his buddies to kick their ass.
" Finfer says Ray told him that the driver kicked Ray in the groin, and in response, Ray pushed him away and the driver fell, the attorney recounted, adding that Ray and his friend then ran away. "The safety of everyone who uses the Uber app is a top priority, and we take reports of violence very seriously," an Uber spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News on Sunday. "Any additional questions about the investigation should be directed to the Danish police," the statement added.
The two students were detained at Copenhagen Airport the next day while trying to return home, Finfer told ABC News. Local police detained them after deeming them "flight risks," claiming they were planning to run from the incident, he said. "That the morning after the incident, he went to the airport to leave on a very early morning flight of a ticket that he had booked weeks in advance before the incident.
He wasn't fleeing the country. It was a booked ticket way in advance of this incident," mother Buchen-Ray said. "Our son was supposed to come home from Copenhagen.
.. I woke up to a text message that said, 'Mom, I'm in prison in Copenhagen, call the U.
S. Embassy.'" Speaking over the weekend, Finfer said, "The fact that he hasn't been charged and is likely to serve 60 days or 45 days in a foreign prison is shocking.
" "They're stuck in that country until the Danish authorities say otherwise," said ABC7 Chief Legal Analyst Gil Soffer. Soffer says, legally speaking, this is not entirely unusual. "If a foreign national were arrested here in the United States and suspected of committing a crime, then it would not be unusual for a court to say, we're going to hold your passport, we're not going to let you leave this country until we resolve this.
That's what's happening to these students in Denmark," Soffer said. "So, it appears that these boys have been charged with assault that is a violent crime. It's no surprise, then, the Danish authorities have withheld their passports, and it seems very likely that they will be made to stand trial unless they can resolve the case by a plea earlier than that.
" Still in Denmark, Owen's mother is by his side. "I'm not leaving without him," she said. "And his friend, for that matter.
And we're hoping for the best. I mean, they're both good kids. They're good students.
There's no reason to hold them at this point." The U.S.
State Department provided a statement to ABC7 on Sunday saying, "We are aware of media reports of two U.S. citizens detained in Denmark.
Staff at our embassy in Copenhagen are providing consular assistance." "The Department has no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S.
citizens abroad," it continued. "Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment." Illinois U.
S. Senator Dick Durbin's officer released a statement, saying they have "been in regular contact with the family and our embassy in Denmark since being made aware of situation." ABC7 Chicago's Liz Nagy, the ABC7 I-Team and ABC News' Benjamin Siu and ABC7 Chicago contributed to this report.
More of ABC News' interview Ray's mother can be seen Monday on Good Morning America at 7 a.m. on ABC7.
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