Pacific edition, Thursday, June 7, 2007

UIJEONGBU, South Korea — A military police private pleaded guilty in Uijeongbu court Tuesday to assaulting a taxi driver, then driving away with the taxi.

Pvt. Michael Curtis Adams, 21, of the 55th Military Police Company, admitted to punching the driver in the face, driving the car and ditching it somewhere near Camp Red Cloud on March 26.

However, the soldier repeatedly denied a prosecutor’s claim that Adams choked the driver and struck him with an empty vodka bottle.

“Some of these facts are misleading, but most of it is true,” Adams told the three-judge panel after the prosecutor accused him of the acts.

Adams, who showed up in court in his Army combat uniform instead of a customary service uniform, testified that he left Camp Casey in Dongducheon alone on March 26 and went to Seoul’s Itaewon neighborhood, near Yongsan Garrison.

He drank two cocktails and some vodka, and then bought a bottle of vodka at a convenience store, according to testimony.

Adams hailed the taxi at 11 p.m. He jumped in the passenger seat while drinking his vodka and asked the elderly driver, identified in court as Mr. Yi, to take him to Camp Red Cloud in Uijeongbu. Adams said in court that he planned to make his way to Dongducheon from there.

Not far from Camp Red Cloud, Adams said, he looked in his wallet and found only 10,000 won, or about $11.

A 20-mile taxi ride from Itaewon to Camp Red Cloud typically costs about $50 to $60.

Adams asked the driver to pull into an alley before reaching the base, he said.

He then punched the driver, shoved him out and began driving, but didn’t know where he was going, he said.

When he fled the taxi, Adams left his cell phone and the empty bottle in the car. He also left the car in reverse gear, allowing it to roll into a nearby garden.

Adams turned himself in to military investigators the next day.

Adams told the judges that his friends said his crimes added up to a misdemeanor. The judges, however, said he faces up to seven years in prison for his actions.

Defendants typically pay victims settlement in South Korean court to reduce their sentences, but Adams has been unable to do so, he said.

Adams said the driver is demanding a 50 million won settlement, or about $54,000.

As an E-1 with more than four months of service, Adams earns $1,301.40 per month, according to the 2007 military pay scale.