Soldiers Convicted for Itaewon Brawl
The soldiers involved in a brawl in Itaewon last November have been sentenced:
A South Korean judge sentenced three U.S. soldiers Friday for their participation in a Nov. 11 bar brawl in the Itaewon entertainment district.
Two soldiers — Pvt. Sylvester Antely Clark, 19, and Spc. Tydes Whiten, 27, — were sentenced to 18 months in prison for punching and striking a U.N. Club bouncer with beer bottles during the fight.
But judge Han Yang-seok suspended both sentences for two years, saying he took into account that both soldiers paid compensation to the bouncer, had no prior convictions and “had worked diligently to defend the country†as soldiers here.
Pfc. Mario Duprey, convicted of assaulting a police officer, was fined the equivalent of about $3,000.
The two soldiers involved in the brawl have been maintaining their innocence that they were not the ones who hit the bouncer with a beer bottle. Judging by past altercations involving Koreans falsely accusing GIs of assault, this claim may quite possibly be true. However, there is not enough information available compared to the Acosta case, to really make a determination on this and the fact that PVT Clark was led into the courtroom in shackles I found quite interesting:
Clark, who was escorted in and out of the courtroom by Army criminal investigators and restrained with his hands shackled to a belt around his waist, declined to comment.
The fact he was led into the courtroom into shackles leads me to wonder what other trouble he has gotten into to be the only one shackled in the courtroom. No one is going to jail, but they are definitely lighter in the pocketbook and hopefully other soldiers can take some good lessons learned from this incident, especially like when you are drunk don’t go to the police station and start crap there.Â
In the U.S., the cops that worked him over (past just restraining) would probably be the ones on trail. The whole thing has the feel of some guys getting railroaded, and I have to wonder about witness credibility; drunk? Hate Americans? Can tell one waegook from another?
Any word on what the Army will do to them?
If they were going to jail they would be chaptered, however since they are not going to jail, they could still be retained though the option to chapter them I believe would still be open since they were convicted of a serious crime, assault.
As far if they were the actual people that hit the guy with the beer bottle it is hard to tell with the information available in the media. They could very well not be the assualters due to past incidents such as the Acosta case where those soldiers were clearly being railroaded., but the fact that Clark was brought into court with chains and the others were not leads me to believe Clark may be in more trouble with the military than we know about.
You are right that in the states those cops would be in trouble but we know full well that beating a GI and a drunk one to boot in Korea means no punishment. Thus the lesson learned is to not go to the police station while drunk and start crap. Nothing good will come out of it.
So if a drunk goes into a police station in America, demand that his buddy gets released from jail, and start beating up the cops, and the cops beat the snot out of the jerk, the cops will be the ones in jail?
Is that how America operate? Why do I think that's a bull shit?
Hi Tom,
The scenario you describe isn’t’ what happened. The soldier went into the station, and the cops started beating him. It makes a difference. Also, the solder was not restrained, he was beaten. Also a big difference. Thanks.
Tom,
As Richardson said the soldier was drunk went to the police station and mouthed off to the cops to let his buddy go. From there things escalated to him getting the crap stomped out of him by multiple policemen.
In the US take Rodney King for example. The guy was high on PCP and wouldn't comply with the policemen who were trying to arrest him and they beat him down into submission. They were hauled into court and found innocent in state criminal court which resulted in the LA riots. However, later 2 of the 4 officers involved were convicted in civil court where Rodney King was awarded $3.8 million dollars.
Big difference from Korea where these policemen probably get patted on the back for beating the crap out of the GI.
Good Bye South Korea
[…] [GI Korea] Soldiers Convicted for Itaewon Brawl Published: Sat, 17 Mar 2007 21:49:01 +0000 The soldiers involved in a brawl in Itaewon last November have been sentenced: A South Korean judge sentenced three U.S. soldiers Friday for their participation in a Nov. 11 bar brawl in the Itaewon entertainment district. Two soldiers — Pvt. Sylvester Antely Clark, 19, and Spc. Tydes Whiten, 27, — were sentenced to 18 months in prison […] Read More… […]
[…] fact they put an entire line on there to let soldiers know they cannot fight the local police. PFC Duprey I’m sure, feels proud that his battle buddy dedication has been immortalized on the Battle […]
This is old news, needs to be removed… My name was cleared….
PFC Duprey, the article says you had been convicted of assaulting a police officer and fined $3,000.00 is this not correct?