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Saturday, June 23, 2007
Ind. Courts - "He was trying to put her over that railing"
Joe Gerrety reports in the Lafayette Courier & Press today, in a story that begins:
A Lafayette man, apparently angry about a judge's ruling in a civil lawsuit, is accused of attacking a Fort Wayne attorney at the Tippecanoe County Courthouse on Friday morning."He was trying to grab her and all I could do is start screaming," said Jan Ermel, a member of the staff of Tippecanoe Superior Court 2 who witnessed the attack. "He was trying to put her over that railing. Oh my god -- I thought she was going to go over!"
Other lawyers present on the fourth floor of the historic courthouse intervened and separated the victim, Linda Polley, from her alleged assailant, Russell A. Timmons, 48, of Lafayette. He was arrested on suspicion of battery and taken to the Tippecanoe County Jail.
Polley was visibly shaken and had redness around her neck but declined medical treatment. Timmons, 5-foot-11 and 270 pounds, ended the attack after he was confronted by his own lawyer.
"It's the scariest thing I've ever gone through," Ermel said of witnessing the attack.
The incident occurred around 10:50 a.m., during one of the busiest periods of the courthouse workweek. Screaming by the victim and Ermel quickly drew the attention of several bailiffs and brought employees out of their offices and attorneys out of other courtrooms.
The courthouse rotunda is open from the fourth floor to the second floor; the openings are protected by a waist-high railing. The round third-floor rotunda opening is smaller than the fourth floor's.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 23, 2007 10:13 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts