CLEVELAND, Ohio — A 36-year-old Brook Park man facing low-level drug charges sprinted out of a Cuyahoga County courtroom on Tuesday after a judge ordered him held in jail because the man said he couldn’t pass a drug test.
Charles Lively, in suit and tie, made it all the way outside of the Justice Center from the building’s 17th floor after a short foot pursuit with Common Pleas Judge David Matia’s high-heel wearing bailiff Colleen Sweeney.
Cuyahoga County sheriff’s deputies arrested Lively just outside the courthouse, and he now faces felony escape charges.
Lively gave the court the slip after what was otherwise a routine change of plea hearing around the lunch hour in Matia’s courtroom.
Here’s how court officials described the encounter.
Lively, who has a history of drug abuse, was set to face trial in February. But Matia found out that Lively had agreed to plead guilty to drug trafficking and drug possession, so Matia scheduled the hearing around the lunch hour.
No deputies were available to secure the courtroom for Lively’s hearing.
Matia asked during the hearing whether Lively would pass a drug test if a sample was taken from him that day. Lively said no, because he had taken a prescription painkiller on Monday for back pain.
Matia then ordered Lively to be held in jail until his sentencing.
Lively asked Matia if he could go back in the gallery of the courtroom and get his coat and bag. Matia allowed it. Lively walked to the seats, snatched the items and bolted through the courtroom doors.
Sweeney and assistant prosecutor John Hirschauer chased him, yelling for him to stop.
He immediately caught an elevator down to the first floor, then ran out the doors onto Ontario Street, where deputies eventually arrested him.
Matia is scheduled to sentence Lively on Feb. 27.
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