Handcuffed Prisoner Dives Over Courthouse Balcony

Spanish Fork, UT - A handcuffed inmate threw himself headfirst over a second-floor courthouse railing on Monday morning, and sent himself plummeting to the lobby below.

Christopher Rudd, 35, was sitting inside a Spanish Fort courtroom awaiting a show cause hearing "for skipping out on his rehab," a Utah State Courts spokesman told KSTU.

He had been in custody since April 26, when he was arrested for drug-related offenses, theft, and possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person.

Rudd exited into the hallway outside, planted his feet and flipped himself over a railing.

Despite a bailiff's efforts to break his fall, Rudd crashed onto the lobby floor, and began bleeding from his head.

He never lost consciousness, and was transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries, the Gephardt Daily reported.