Spc. Frank Williams was sentenced in a military court in Kaiserslautern, Germany, Oct. 31, 2024 to 10 years confinement for purposely hitting a fellow soldier with his vehicle and then fleeing the scene. He also had his pay grade reduced to E-1 and was given a dishonorable discharge. (Aspen Reid/U.S. Air Force)
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — A former U.S. Army specialist stationed in Germany is now serving a lengthy prison sentence for purposely ramming into a fellow soldier with his car and then driving away.
The hit-and-run, which happened in Kaiserslautern last summer, left the victim with a traumatic brain injury and other grave medical issues, the Army Office of Special Trial Counsel said in a statement Thursday.
Frank Williams, 24, admitted during a two-day general court-martial in October on Kleber Kaserne to hitting the victim with his car in August 2023, before driving to the Army’s installation in Baumholder, about 35 miles away, the statement said.
There, Williams falsely told authorities that the car damage was from a collision with a deer, according to the statement.
On Oct. 31, military judge Lt. Col. Tom Hynes sentenced Williams to 10 years behind bars as part of a plea deal. Williams admitted to maiming and making false official statements. His pay grade was reduced to E-1 and he was given a dishonorable discharge.
Prosecutors dismissed more serious charges including attempted murder as part of the deal, the Office of Special Trial Counsel said.
The crime followed a verbal altercation between Williams and the victim over damage to Williams’ 2017 Honda Accord, Michelle McCaskill, communications director at the Army Office of Special Trial Counsel, said in an email exchange Friday.
Both men were assigned to the 16th Sustainment Brigade, a subordinate unit of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command. However, Williams was based in Baumholder, and the victim was based in Kaiserslautern, McCaskill said.
The victim is still suffering from his injuries and is currently assigned to a soldier recovery unit at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland, McCaskill added.
During the trial, he told Hynes “how this heinous act will impact him for the rest of his life,” lead prosecutor Maj. Sara Nicholson said in Thursday’s statement.
The Criminal Investigation Division’s field office in Kaiserslautern investigated the case along with German authorities.
“This investigation revealed a deliberate act that put a fellow soldier’s life in grave danger,” Ryan Hall, special agent in charge at the Army Criminal Investigation Division’s Europe office, was quoted in the statement as saying.
Williams is being held at the Sembach Confinement Facility in Germany until at least next month, when he’s expected to be called as a witness in a separate court martial for a passenger who was in his car when the crime was committed last year, McCaskill said, adding that Williams will be transferred to the United States sometime afterward.
