COLUMBUS, Ind. — An Indiana man was stunned by officers after authorities say he reacted poorly to being sentenced to jail and tried to run out of the Bartholomew County Courthouse.
Trevin Littlejohn, a 35-year-old Columbus man, was arrested Monday afternoon by Bartholomew County sheriff’s deputies and now faces a charge of resisting law enforcement.
The resisting charge against Littlejohn stems from an incident that happened around 2:30 p.m. on June 5 in Columbus.
Inside the Bartholomew County Courthouse in Superior Court II, authorities said a judge was in the middle of reading a 200-day jail sentence to Littlejohn when the Columbus man “said loudly that he was not going to jail.”
Court security was called to the area and an officer approached Littlejohn, who police say ran towards the courtroom’s rear door. Despite attempts by security to restrain and tackle him, Littlejohn used courtroom chairs to block officers and ran into the hallway.
Authorities said that a probation officer who was also in the courtroom managed to grab hold of Littlejohn at the top of a staircase and told the suspect he was going to deploy his stun gun if he didn’t stop running.
However, police said Littlejohn was able to escape the officer’s grasp, causing another officer to use his stun gun on him. Yet, police said Littlejohn was still able to move and make his way down the stairs.
Police said the officers again told Littlejohn to stop moving or he would be stunned again. He did not stop, police said, and officers stunned him again.
“However, these had little effect on Littlejohn,” police said.
Littlejohn, police said, then tried to take another officer’s stun gun and was stunned a third time. Finally, he fell to the floor.
Police said after the stun gun effects wore off, Littlejohn tried to grab a sign pole on the ground near him but that it was wrestled away from him by another officer. That initial responding officer, police said, suffered minor abrasions on his arm.
Littlejohn was then put into handcuffs, police said, but remained uncooperative. He was then taken to Columbus Regional Hospital for evaluation and treatment and was later released.
While being taken from the hospital to the jail, police said jail staffers saw Littlejohn try to strangle himself with the transport van’s seatbelt.
Littlejohn, police said, was later booked into Bartholomew County Jail on a charge of resisting law enforcement where he remains in custody.
Court records show that Littlejohn was initially being sentenced for a criminal misdemeanor charge of conversion that he had pleaded guilty to.