Suspect bolts from DeKalb County Courthouse

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A man facing fraud charges took off from the DeKalb County courthouse after a judge ordered him to be arrested.

Deputies say Melvin Summers sprinted from the seventh-floor courtroom as they attempted to put handcuffs on him.

A deputy shot Summers with a stun gun, but that didn’t stop him.

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He got out of the courtroom and took a bridge to the administrative building on the ninth floor.

The deputy caught up to him and used the Taser again, but Summers still managed to get away. The DeKalb County Sheriff's Fugitive Unit found him a day later.

The incident has prompted safety and security concerns.

“Do you really have security here? Do they? That’s something they need to look at,” courthouse visitor Daphne Walker said.

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Kyle Jones helped investigate the Brian Nichols murder spree at the Fulton County Courthouse in 2005. He says several systems failed in the Summers incident.

"God forbid this was an active shooter. We can only imagine how this situation would have turned out," he said.
The DeKalb County sheriff has ordered his deputies to be in better position when people are taken into custody.

His office says it didn’t secure the courthouse because Summers was wanted for a nonviolent offense

Cox Media Group