Inmate Trying To Escape Santa Rosa Courtroom Shot With Taser
SANTA ROSA (CBS SF) -- A Sonoma County Jail inmate was shot with a Taser when he tried to flee a county courtroom Friday morning.
A Guerneville man who was sitting in the gallery also was injured by the Taser when he tried to stop the inmate, 34-year-old Jessie James Graham.
Graham pleaded guilty to burglary and arson charges and was sentenced to three years' probation on April 11.
He violated his probation by possessing a controlled substance and was back in the jail waiting for bed space to become available in a residential drug treatment program.
He was in Sonoma County Superior Court Friday morning to hear the results of a doctor's mental health exam.
Around 9 a.m., Graham jumped up and leaped over the bar - the wood partition separating the gallery from the area occupied by attorneys, bailiffs and court employees, sheriff's Deputy Eric Thomson said.
Bailiff Andrew Clark shot Graham with a Taser as Todd Campbell of Guerneville tried to stop Graham, Thomson said.
One of the Taser probes hit Graham in the buttocks and the other simultaneously struck one of Campbell's fingers, Thomson said.
"Because the two of them (Graham and Campbell) were touching, both of them were shocked," Thomson said.
Graham cried out in pain. He was subdued and bailiffs closed Judge Robert LaForge's packed courtroom for about 30 minutes.
Campbell was taken away on a gurney by responding medics.
"I'm doing fine," Campbell said.
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