Man gets 2.5 years in prison for attack on US airman

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A jujitsu instructor has been sentenced to 2 ½ years in prison for punching and stomping on the head of a U.S. airman at a bar on an Air Force base in Japan.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that Rodrigo Gomez was convicted of attempted voluntary manslaughter, assault and other charges in April. U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. sentenced him in Little Rock on Wednesday.

Prosecutors say Gomez was drunk when he attacked Souleyman Dia on Dec. 31, 2016, at the Misawa base.

Dia says he suffered traumatic brain injury and that the resulting migraines, memory loss, confusion and cognitive issues cost him his job.

The 44-year-old Gomez is married to an Air Force major and the couple was previously based in Jacksonville, Arkansas. He has since lived in Colorado.

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Information from: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, http://www.arkansasonline.com