Tracy E. Perkins

{{Short description|American army sergeant}}

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

On 3 January 2004, he forced, at gunpoint, civilian plumbers Zaidoun Hassoun and Marwan Fadel to leap from a road bridge in Samarra, Iraq, into the waters of the River Tigris below. The cousins Hassoun and Fadel had been caught by a U.S. checkpoint after curfew. 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.{{Cite web |date=2005-01-04 |title=Jury gets case in Iraq drowning death court-martial |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna6786621 |access-date=2023-09-15 |website=NBC News |language=en}}

At least four senior officers, including the battalion commander of the four soldiers, Lt. Col. Nathan Sassaman, were reprimanded for impeding investigators.{{Cite news |last=Schmitt |first=Eric |date=2004-07-03 |title=THE REACH OF WAR: ABUSE; U.S. Army Charges 4 Soldiers in the Drowning Death of an Iraqi Man |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/03/world/reach-war-abuse-us-army-charges-4-soldiers-drowning-death-iraqi-man.html |access-date=2023-09-15 |issn=0362-4331}} On 8 January 2005, a military court in Fort Hood, Texas, U.S., acquitted Perkins of involuntary manslaughter but convicted him of aggravated assault and obstruction of justice. He received a prison term of six months and a reduction in rank.{{Cite web |date=2005-01-06 |title=Soldier gets 6 months in Iraqi drowning case |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna6793776 |access-date=2023-09-15 |website=NBC News |language=en}} 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.{{Cite web |date=2005-03-15 |title=G.I. gets 45 days for assault of Iraqis |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna7200520 |access-date=2023-09-15 |website=NBC News |language=en}} Involuntary manslaughter charges against Martinez, and assault charges against Bowman, were later dropped.{{Cite web |date=2004-09-08 |title=Charges dropped against U.S. soldier |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5937552 |access-date=2023-09-15 |website=NBC News |language=en}}