Raymond Dionte Hunter
A man charged in an armed robbery outside of Five Guys downtown was tossed from court during his preliminary hearing.
While an officer was testifying, Raymond Dionte Hunter raised his handcuffs and ran toward a group that included officers and the victims.
General Sessions Court Judge Lila Statom let out a yell, then hurried off the bench through a rear door.
When she returned she had Hunter led away and said the hearing would be completed without him.
Judge Statom said she did "what I was taught to do - to get out of the way."
At the end she raised his bond from more than $170,000 to over $355,000.
He is also being held on a no bond in Criminal Court because he is on two consecutive six-year suspended sentences for prior armed robberies, prosecutor Carl Huskins said. He said he is facing 12 years being ordered into execution in those cases.
The prosecutor said, "By his actions here, it's clear that he is a danger to the community."
A female employee of Five Guys said she got off work at 11 p.m. last Nov. 26 and waited out front with her boyfriend, Nicholas Trippy, for a ride.
She said about 11:45 p.m. that a man dressed in a blue windbreaker and with a scarf over part of his face came up and produced a gun from his pocket.
She said the man asked them if they had anything of value, and they said they did not. She said he patted the boyfriend down and made her empty her bag and pockets. He then left with their cell phones.
The witness said her boyfriend took off after the robber, while she went to the corner of Fourth and Broad. She flagged down a woman who let her use her phone to call police and who waited with her until officers arrived.
She said Trippy returned a short time later and had the cell phones with him.
Almost a dozen officers began searching for the robber, and a female officer soon spotted him and took him into custody.
There had been a call about a suspicious gray Pacifica in a parking lot by itself. The car was registered to Hunter.
Police found a gun near where Hunter was taken into custody. It was fully loaded with a bullet in the chamber.
Click here for audio of the full hearing.