US defendant shot in court after 'threatening judge with crutch'

A judge in Alabama pulled a gun on a defendant who tried to attack him with a crutch after being found guilty of harassment, a witness said. A police officer shot and wounded the man, who had a cast on his leg, after he lunged at Judge Carlton Teel and tried to grab the weapon, authorities said. But some witnesses said the man had not threatened the judge.

Bryant Keith Ford, 25, was struck by at least one bullet and flown by helicopter from the town of Goodwater to the University of Alabama hospital in Birmingham, where his condition was good. "The guy came over the bench at him trying to get it," said Keith Warren, an attorney. "He just literally got in the judge's face, then backed off and started swinging the crutch at the judge."



Sara Williams said she was sitting in the front row when the defendant, whom she knew, got agitated after the judge fined him $800 (£500). She said he waved one of his crutches in the air and police were "hollering for him to get down" when an officer opened fire. Williams said she yelled: "Don't shoot him no more" before the officer fired again.

Court records showed Ford was in court on a harassment charge filed by a neighbour who claimed he swore at her after accusing her of talking to police about him. Teel heard the case without a jury and the trial lasted less than five minutes. Goodwater is a town of 1,500 people about 60 miles (100km) north of Montgomery.