A judge in Washington state is being hailed as a hero after chasing down two inmates who fled from his Lewis County courtroom.
Defendants Kodey Howard and Tanner Jacobson ran — while still wearing handcuffs and jail sandals — during a courtroom appearance on Tuesday. Presiding Judge R.W. Buzzard quickly leapt from behind the bench, threw off his robe and chased after the escapees.
Howard fell while running through a hallway after Jacobson, but recovered, and the two ran down three flights of stairs. After a short chase, Jacobson was apprehended by deputies a few blocks away from the courthouse. Meanwhile. Judge Buzzard grabbed Howard at the exit door in what he called a “bear hug” and held onto the inmate until law enforcement arrived “luckily about 10 seconds later.”
“Well, if they’re that desperate, what are they gonna do when they get into the public hallway, public stairwell, out the door?” he asked. “They’re desperate, and I don’t know what was going on, so I wanted to at least find out where they were going.” – READ MORE