Tracy E. Perkins (born 1971) is a Sergeant First Class (reduced in rank by court martial to

Staff Sergeant Staff sergeant is a Military rank, rank of non-commissioned officer used in the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. History of title In origin, certain senior sergeants were assigned to administr ...

) in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

. On 3 January 2004, he forced, at gunpoint, civilian plumbers Zaidoun Hassoun and Marwan Fadel to leap from a road bridge in

Samarra Samarra (, ') is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Saladin Governorate, north of Baghdad. The modern city of Samarra was founded in 836 by the Abbasid caliph al-Mu'tasim as a new administrative capital and mi ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

, into the waters of the River Tigris below. The cousins Hassoun and Fadel had been caught by a U.S. checkpoint after

curfew A curfew is an order that imposes certain regulations during specified hours. Typically, curfews order all people affected by them to remain indoors during the evening and nighttime hours. Such an order is most often issued by public authorit ...

. Fadel managed to reach the riverbank, but claims that he saw Hassoun drown and that the family later retrieved and buried the body. Perkins accused of pushing another Iraqi civilian off a different bridge into the Tigris near Balad, Iraq, in December 2003. At least four senior officers, including the battalion commander of the four soldiers, Lt. Col. Nathan Sassaman, were reprimanded for impeding investigators. On 8 January 2005, a

military court A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the arme ...

Fort Hood Fort Cavazos is a United States Army post located near Killeen, Texas. The post is currently named after Gen. Richard E. Cavazos, a native Texan and the US Army’s first Hispanic four-star general. The post is located halfway between Austi ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

, acquitted Perkins of

involuntary manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...

but convicted him of

aggravated assault In the terminology of law, an assault is the act of causing physical harm or unwanted physical contact to another person, or, in some legal definitions, the threat or attempt to do so. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result ...

and

obstruction of justice In United States jurisdictions, obstruction of justice refers to a number of offenses that involve unduly influencing, impeding, or otherwise interfering with the justice system, especially the legal and procedural tasks of prosecutors, investiga ...

. He received a prison term of six months and a

reduction in rank Reduction, reduced, or reduce may refer to: Science and technology Chemistry * Reduction (chemistry), part of a reduction-oxidation (redox) reaction in which atoms have their oxidation state changed. ** Organic redox reaction, a redox reac ...

. Also charged were Lt. Jack M. Saville, Sgt. Reggie Martinez, and Spec. Terry Bowman. Saville pleaded guilty to assault and dereliction of duty. He was sentenced to 45 days in jail and ordered to forfeit $12,000 in pay. Involuntary manslaughter charges against Martinez, and assault charges against Bowman, were later dropped.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perkins, Tracy 1971 births Living people American people convicted of assault American people convicted of obstruction of justice American people convicted of war crimes United States Army personnel of the Iraq War United States Army soldiers Iraq War crimes by the United States United States Army personnel who were court-martialed Prisoners and detainees of the United States military People acquitted of manslaughter