LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A man bolted from a Jefferson County courtroom Tuesday after he learned he was being sentenced to five years in prison. Now he's facing more charges.
According to court documents, 29-year-old Raitonn Woodford was appearing in Division 1 of Jefferson County Circuit Court Tuesday morning, on a probation revocation hearing. He had previously been sentenced to probation for drugs and weapons charges.
When Jefferson Circuit Judge Barry Willett revoked his probation and sentenced Woodford to five years in prison, he tried to run from the courtroom, according to an arrest report.
A video camera was running in the courtroom when the incident began, but it was locked on an empty witness chair for the first few moments.
"Mr. Woodford, I'm going to sentence you to serve five years," Judge Willett said on the video. "Good luck to you."
A woman -- who is later identified as Woodford's girlfriend -- can be heard sobbing on the video. Moments later, Woodford can be seen leaping out of the camera frame. Pandemonium ensues.
"Oh, come on!" Judge Willett shouts. "Come on!"
"No baby!" the woman screams. "No baby!"
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office says he ran toward the door of the courtroom -- the door that led to an outside hallway.
"Lock the door back there," Judge Willett says on the video. "Lock the door back there."
But Woodford didn't get very far. A sheriff's deputy and a Louisville Metro Police officer were able to stop him. At one point, he got back up and an officer had to tackle him, according to the arrest report.Â
He was eventually overpowered, but one officer's right arm was injured in the process.
"The record will reflect that Mr. Woodford made an unsuccessful effort to escape," Judge Willett says on the video.
As Woodford is brought back into the courtroom in handcuffs and ushered away, his girlfriend protests to the judge that she was pushed by one of the deputies during the scuffle.
"He pulled my hair, and that's not fair!" she exclaims as she is pulled out of the courtroom by a deputy.
"Nothing like pushing the red button and having the cavalry come," Judge Willett says a few moments later.
A few minutes later, Judge Willett allowed Woodford's girlfriend to address the Court about her perceived mistreatment in the scuffle.
"I didn't do anything, I tried to stop him!" she said, speaking of her boyfriend.
"I noticed that," Judge Willett said.
Then she motioned toward the deputy. "There's no reason for him to put his hands on me."
"He didn't have to do that at all to me," she added. "I don't feel like there's justice. He didn't have to put his hands on me."
"Okay, I've heard you," the judge says. "I don't have any control over what you're talking about. I didn't see what you saw. What I saw was that Mr. Woodford made an unsuccessful attempt to escape the courtroom and he was apprehended by law enforcement."
"But I understand that. I tried to stop that. But there's no reason for that man to have to...pull my hair or push me," she said. "But you're condoning that right?"
"I'm not condoning any--no wait a minute!" the judge shouted. "Come back up here right now!"
"Okay," she said. "Okay. Okay."
"Don't you tell me I'm condoning anything. I just told you what I observed. You made an effort to stop him from leaving -- I appreciate that. But in the thick of it, when your boyfriend is fighting with deputies, people might get pushed out of the way. Maybe it was for your own safety. He was gonna hurt somebody. So don't tell me I'm condoning anything. I did not say that."
"Okay," she replied.Â
"Everybody is fortunate nobody got seriously hurt in that effort," Judge Willitt continued. "Nineteen years on the bench -- that's the first time I've had an inmate attempt to leave the courtroom in that fashion. I understand you're upset. I'm upset!"
She tearfully left the courtroom a moment later.
Woodford is now facing charges of second-degree escape, fleeing or evading police, resisting arrest and third-degree assault. He is currently being held in Louisville Metro Corrections.
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