thedrifter
04-22-09, 07:18 AM
Marine halts flight of prisoner from court
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
By MIKE MARSHALL
Times Staff Writer mike.marshall@htimes.com
Sparkman grad on leave to recuperate from injuries
It was around 3 p.m. Friday at the Madison County Courthouse when people began pouring out of an upstairs courtroom.
Authorities were yelling, "Stop him!" Probation officers ran down the stairs, chasing a man who appeared to be in his early 20s.
It was the start of something unusual at the courthouse: A man had fled a courtroom and eluded authorities during his hearing.
The chase ended moments later just outside the exit on the west side of the courthouse.
When it was over, something even rarer happened: The fleeing man was apprehended, but not by a law enforcement official.
Ryan Dohrmann, 22, a corporal in the Marines, tackled the man as he was about to make a clean break from the courthouse.
"He was two feet from freedom," Dohrmann said. "There would have been no one to catch him."
Dohrmann, a 2005 graduate of Sparkman High School, was home on convalescent leave from Camp Lejeune, N.C., after recent surgery on his right hand.
Even with his hand in a cast and a surgically repaired shoulder, he was able to pull down the man by his shirt collar.
Dohrmann's break came, he said, when an officer at one of the metal detectors tripped the man as he was about to head through the first exit door.
"That gave me time to tackle him," Dohrmann said, "or he would have been gone."
The man fell into the first exit door then tried to regain his balance, Dohrmann recalled.
Stumbling, he tried to make it through the second exit door. He was just beyond the second door, on the walkway of the courthouse, when Dohrmann tackled him.
Outside, a woman was talking on her cell phone. Dohrmann also saw some men, presumably lawyers, wearing suits and holding briefcases.
"They were all standing there laughing," he said. "They thought it was funny."
There was nothing humorous about the exchange between Dohrmann and the man trying to escape.
"This isn't your problem," Dohrmann recalled the man saying. "Let me go. I'm just trying to get away."
At that point, Dohrmann figured that the man knew he wasn't a police officer.
Dohrmann, though, could have passed for a police officer in his military haircut, black shirt and tan desert pants.
"You're not going anywhere," Dohrmann said he told the man.
Using techniques he had learned before one of his two tours of Iraq, Dohrmann was on top of the man.
Thirty seconds later, officers handcuffed the man and went inside the courthouse.
"I just told him I was doing what anybody should be doing," Dohrmann said. "If he was sentenced, he had to do his time."
Bystanders to escape
Dohrmann and his wife, Rachel, married for eight months, were at the courthouse to get a concealed-weapon permit for Rachel.
They were walking down the steps on the west side of the courthouse when the man escaped from the courtroom.
The man passed Rachel, almost brushing her, as he ran down the steps. He was jumping down the steps five and six at a time, she recalled.
"I turned to look at my husband," Rachel said, "and he was headed out the door."
Later, the Dohrmanns were told that the man had been at a probation hearing.
Standing on the witness stand, prepared for sentencing, the man fled the courtroom.
Authorities told the Dohrmanns that the man hurdled "over the witness stand and out the door."
Said Ryan: "An officer outside the courtroom said he didn't like the sentence, and he decided to leave. If you're stupid enough to go to jail, you should be man enough to do your time. That's what I feel about it."
Afterward, some of the authorities thanked Ryan. They took the man back to the courtroom and resentenced him, Ryan said.
Then the Dohrmanns went to the mall.
"We had some shopping to do," Ryan said.
Said Rachel: "Just another day."
Ellie
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
By MIKE MARSHALL
Times Staff Writer mike.marshall@htimes.com
Sparkman grad on leave to recuperate from injuries
It was around 3 p.m. Friday at the Madison County Courthouse when people began pouring out of an upstairs courtroom.
Authorities were yelling, "Stop him!" Probation officers ran down the stairs, chasing a man who appeared to be in his early 20s.
It was the start of something unusual at the courthouse: A man had fled a courtroom and eluded authorities during his hearing.
The chase ended moments later just outside the exit on the west side of the courthouse.
When it was over, something even rarer happened: The fleeing man was apprehended, but not by a law enforcement official.
Ryan Dohrmann, 22, a corporal in the Marines, tackled the man as he was about to make a clean break from the courthouse.
"He was two feet from freedom," Dohrmann said. "There would have been no one to catch him."
Dohrmann, a 2005 graduate of Sparkman High School, was home on convalescent leave from Camp Lejeune, N.C., after recent surgery on his right hand.
Even with his hand in a cast and a surgically repaired shoulder, he was able to pull down the man by his shirt collar.
Dohrmann's break came, he said, when an officer at one of the metal detectors tripped the man as he was about to head through the first exit door.
"That gave me time to tackle him," Dohrmann said, "or he would have been gone."
The man fell into the first exit door then tried to regain his balance, Dohrmann recalled.
Stumbling, he tried to make it through the second exit door. He was just beyond the second door, on the walkway of the courthouse, when Dohrmann tackled him.
Outside, a woman was talking on her cell phone. Dohrmann also saw some men, presumably lawyers, wearing suits and holding briefcases.
"They were all standing there laughing," he said. "They thought it was funny."
There was nothing humorous about the exchange between Dohrmann and the man trying to escape.
"This isn't your problem," Dohrmann recalled the man saying. "Let me go. I'm just trying to get away."
At that point, Dohrmann figured that the man knew he wasn't a police officer.
Dohrmann, though, could have passed for a police officer in his military haircut, black shirt and tan desert pants.
"You're not going anywhere," Dohrmann said he told the man.
Using techniques he had learned before one of his two tours of Iraq, Dohrmann was on top of the man.
Thirty seconds later, officers handcuffed the man and went inside the courthouse.
"I just told him I was doing what anybody should be doing," Dohrmann said. "If he was sentenced, he had to do his time."
Bystanders to escape
Dohrmann and his wife, Rachel, married for eight months, were at the courthouse to get a concealed-weapon permit for Rachel.
They were walking down the steps on the west side of the courthouse when the man escaped from the courtroom.
The man passed Rachel, almost brushing her, as he ran down the steps. He was jumping down the steps five and six at a time, she recalled.
"I turned to look at my husband," Rachel said, "and he was headed out the door."
Later, the Dohrmanns were told that the man had been at a probation hearing.
Standing on the witness stand, prepared for sentencing, the man fled the courtroom.
Authorities told the Dohrmanns that the man hurdled "over the witness stand and out the door."
Said Ryan: "An officer outside the courtroom said he didn't like the sentence, and he decided to leave. If you're stupid enough to go to jail, you should be man enough to do your time. That's what I feel about it."
Afterward, some of the authorities thanked Ryan. They took the man back to the courtroom and resentenced him, Ryan said.
Then the Dohrmanns went to the mall.
"We had some shopping to do," Ryan said.
Said Rachel: "Just another day."
Ellie