Police: Man Who Fled Hennepin County Courtroom Is In Custody
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- An escaped inmate is back in the Hennepin County Jail Friday.
On Thursday, Michael Henderson ran from the court room as a jury handed down a guilty verdict for attempted murder following a robbery at a Sam's Club in Bloomington earlier this year.
He was on the run for 16 hours after escaping the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis. The building is 24 floors of courtrooms and offices, with several different ways to leave the building.
Henderson used that to his advantage during his trial on the 16th floor.
"There was no indication, in this case, that we needed additional security beyond the three deputies we had in the courtroom at the time of sentencing," said Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek. "Henderson was in custody since March, with no behavior that indicated need for more staff."
When the jury came back with a guilty verdict, authorities say Henderson made his move.
He got up from the table and turned to run. He struggled with one deputy, injuring that officer and pushed aside a second deputy.
He then jumped a railing and ran out of the courtroom. Within seconds, Henderson was inside the stairwell making his way to the bottom floor.
"Henderson ... subsequently took off some articles of clothing to change his appearance," Sheriff Stanek said. "He got out of stairwell at one point, was on one of the floors, got back into stairwell or elevator and exited the building," Stanek said.
The building immediately went into lockdown, but authorities believe Henderson was out of the building in about a minute after escaping through a fire exit -- the one door that couldn't be secured.
"Everything they did, following what happened at the time, the decision made by Henderson, was done the right way," he said. "They gave chase, they tried to apprehend, they got hurt in process, they chased him out the door, out onto the street."
A concerned citizen called police after seeing Henderson sleeping in a car near the 2400 block of Garfield Avenue South in Minneapolis on Friday morning.
Authorities don't believe Henderson had any help with his escape.
Every year, the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office oversees 35,000 inmates through the court system.
Sheriff Stanek says there have been escape attempts, but this is the first time an inmate in custody was able to escape.