SALT LAKE CITY — Actor Emile Hirsch began serving 15 days in a Utah jail Monday after pleading guilty to misdemeanor assault for putting a female studio executive in a chokehold and body-slamming her at a nightclub during the Sundance Film Festival.



The “Into the Wild” star told a judge he was sorry and was learning to take responsibility for his actions, saying he has no excuse for what happened Jan. 25 at Tao Nightclub in Park City. But the victim said Hirsch’s punishment should have been tougher.



Hirsch was intoxicated and taking medications when he dragged the woman across a table, according to police and prosecutors.



Hirsch’s deal with prosecutors also calls for a $4,750 fine and 50 hours of community service. Daniele Bernfeld, an executive for the Paramount Pictures subsidiary Insurge Pictures, said the violent and unprovoked attack has caused long-lasting effects beyond physical injuries. “It took two people to pull him off me, and if not for their intervention, the attack would have continued,” she said. “I thought I was going to die.” — AP