COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — Back in court Tuesday, Vongia Weathers appeared almost sedate, more than a week after authorities said he tried bolt from another courtroom but was nabbed by deputies — and a judge.
Weathers was charged with escape, aggravated battery to a peace officer and resisting arrest after prosecutors said he became combative during a hearing Aug. 16.
At that hearing, on charges he drove on a suspended license, Judge Nicholas Ford increased Weathers' bond after learning the 32-year-old had failed a drug test.
Faced with going to jail, Weathers, of the 1300 block of South Kostner Avenue, tried to run, prosecutors said.
A sheriff's deputy assigned to the courtroom grabbed Weathers. As the two struggled, Ford came down from the bench and helped the deputy wrestle Weathers to the floor.
"He called the judge a racist and said he would die before he went back to jail," Assistant State's Attorney Lorraine Scaduto said Tuesday.
Ford told the Tribune it took all of his strength to get Weathers under control.
“We were rolling around for five minutes,” he said. “It took every bit of both of our strength just to keep him there. His family was screaming. It was complete craziness.”
Weathers also hit a sheriff's deputy with an open handcuff, causing a minor injury, prosecutors said. It eventually took Ford and five deputies to get him to stop fighting, prosecutors said.
On Tuesday, Judge James Brown ordered a much more docile Weathers held on $150,000 bail.
