You might think than an escape from custody would be more dramatic than simply turning around and walking away, but apparently not.
At least that's how US criminal Gerald A. Hyde II did it, as he was spotted on court security cameras sneaking away when nobody was watching before making a run for it.
Watch it here:
In 2015, Gerald had been convicted of possessing methamphetamine and was at Benton County Superior Court, Washington, when he just kind of shuffled to the back of the line before walking away.
Just a few steps backwards took him into the now empty courtroom, which he ran through as he removed his inmate's shirt to avoid being easily spotted, holding it over his cuffed hands to block those from being seen.
Advert
Along the way, he ditched his orange prison shoes and ran through the courthouse barefoot and just went out of the front door.
All of this was done so he could stay out of jail, and that plan worked for the sum total of around two hours after which he was tracked down to a friend's house and re-arrested.
Returning to custody, he was then hit with another charge of second-degree escape, which probably made those two hours of freedom not really worth it.
Law enforcement officials said he'd managed to escape thanks to a 'blind spot' where an officer couldn't see him as he stepped back.
Advert
"Mr. Hyde stepped off into a corridor, a bit of a blind spot for the officer,” Benton County Sheriff’s Office Commander Jon Law said.
"In a perfect world we would have caught it and he wouldn’t have been able to get to that void and blind spot."
Hyde decided to represent himself in court on his new charge and rather proved the adage that a man who represents himself has a fool for a client.
The criminal tried to argue that he didn't technically escape from a detention facility because he'd done a runner from the courthouse instead, but this argument wasn't really very convincing to the jury who took just 13 minutes to convict him.
Advert
His original charge of possession of methamphetamine ended up being dismissed, but he did end up being sentenced to two years and two months in prison for his escape attempt.
So really in the end if he'd just sat tight he might have been able to get out of there.
According to the Tri-City Herald, Hyde was actually convicted of second degree escape in 2011 under similar circumstances.
He'd been found in contempt during a hearing and been ordered by a judge to sit in the jury box until officers arrived to take him to jail.
Instead he left the courtroom, and when caught claimed he didn't know what he was doing as he'd been 'slamming dope for a couple of weeks'.
Joe Harker