January 24, 2009
Associated Press
FORT BRAGG, N.C. - A Soldier found dead last summer complained about the price of beer and got in a fight at a bar before seven members of his own unit punched, choked and restrained him, a paratrooper testified at a hearing Friday.
Sgt. Mitchell Lafortune testified during an Article 32, similar to a civilian grand jury, for five of seven Soldiers charged with involuntary manslaughter in Pfc. Luke Brown's July death. The other two are scheduled to appear Feb. 27. The division commander will decide whether to convene a formal trial, or court-martial.
Defense attorney Todd Connormon, who represents 24-year-old Spc. Charles B. DeLong, one of those charged, called the situation "a tragedy," and said the Soldiers were trying to take care of a friend.
"I'm hoping this doesn't go to court," Connormon said. "I don't think it should."
Lafortune's testimony was the first public account of the night Brown died.
He said he saw the Soldiers "aggressively assault" Brown in a patch of woods after the group left a Fayetteville bar called the Ugly Stick early July 20. When the men drove him back to the barracks on Fort Bragg, Lafortune said he thought Brown was dead because he was pale and his eyes were closed.
"I should have done something to make sure he was OK," said Lafortune, who has not been charged and testified that he did not participate in choking Brown. "I should have been smart enough to walk out of the woods and at least call Fayetteville (police). It's something I regret to this day."
Lafortune said Brown, 27, an intelligence officer from Fredericksburg, Va., was drinking and socializing at the bar but seemed in a bad mood, complaining about the price of beer. Brown got into an argument with a Soldier from another unit, grabbed the man's beer and drank it.
When the group left, a Soldier found Brown in a patch of woods behind the bar. Lafortune said he heard a commotion and saw Brown being choked and punched. He said the Soldiers were trying to get Brown, who weighed 250 pounds, to pass out so they could move him.
The group carried Brown to the edge of the woods and bound his hands with a zip tie when he began to wake up. Then they put Brown in a vehicle and drove back to the barracks. Lafortune said he heard one of the other Soldiers say, "You've got to breathe Brown, breathe."
They cut the zip ties off of his wrists and started CPR. Shortly after, an ambulance and military police arrived.
Chief Warrant Officer James Lyonais, called as a character witness for 28-year-old Sgt. Justin A. Boyle, discussed guidance he'd received in the past on safely getting a drunk Soldier home.
He said it was common to be told "it doesn't matter how you get them home. You knock them out, you bring them home and we'll deal with it later."
A prosecutor then asked if it was appropriate to "kick, punch, choke to unconsciousness and zip tie" a paratrooper if Soldiers needed to get him back to the base.
"If you were trying to save a Soldier from trouble with the law downtown ... it is acceptable," Lyonais said. "I don't think the answer is to physically harm people."
Navy Cmdr. Carol Solomon, a pathologist at the Washington-based Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, testified later Friday that choking a person to unconsciousness can cause a fatal brain injury. She said injuries on Brown's neck were consistent with choking.
"I believe their actions were involved in causing Pfc. Brown's death," she said of the accused.
Solomon had originally ruled the cause of Brown's death undetermined because she was concerned he may have had an enlarged heart. She said she changed her opinion after determining his heart was normal.
The Soldiers charged are DeLong, of Dade City, Fla.; Boyle, of Rocky Point, N.Y.; Sgt. Christopher Mignocchi, 22, of Hollywood, Fla.; Sgt. Kyle G. Saltz, 25, of Richland, Wash.; Spc. Ryan Sullivan, 23, of Mount Laurel, N.J.; Spc. Joseph A. Misuraca, 22, of Harper Woods, Mich.; and Pfc. Andrey Udalov, 21, of Brooklyn, N.Y.
The seven men are assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division's Headquarters and Headquarters Company, which was Brown's unit. The involuntary manslaughter charges carry a maximum 10-year prison sentence. Some of the Soldiers also face other charges.
http://www.military.com/news/article/dead-soldier-was-punched-choked.html?col=1186032325324&ESRC=army-a.nl
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