‘Criminal Hulk’ breaks handcuffs before punching deputy in attempted courthouse escape
A sentenced man in Ohio has been dubbed the 'criminal Hulk' after footage of him breaking out of handcuffs in a courthouse and almost managing to escape the building was released.
20-year-old Timothy J. Reaggle had just been sentenced to one year in prison after pleading guilty in July to aggravated burglary, aggravated assault, aggravated menacing, failure to comply, and two misdemeanuor counts of assault.
According to WKBN the charges related to an incident on 14 February, 2025, and on Monday (14 September) Reaggle had been in Columbiana County Court to be given his sentence.
CCTV footage from inside the courthouse shows that as he's being led down a corridor by an officer the man appears to break free of his handcuffs and punch his guard, knocking them to the ground.
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Reaggle then appears to make a break for the courthouse exit and almost manage it, forcing his way past officers on the stairs before being tasered just as he passes through the building's metal detector at the entrance.
See the footage:
Several deputies are required to subdue the tasered man but he was eventually brought down.
Two deputies were taken to hospital to be treated for broken bones, and Columbiana County Sheriff Brian McLaughlin has said that both of them have since been discharged to continue their recovery.
Reaggle, meanwhile, is being held at Columbiana County Jail ahead of his transfer to prison to serve his sentence, but now he is likely to be sentenced for his escape attempt from the courthouse as well.
People who've seen the footage suggested that the 20-year-old might end up with an 'NFL contract on release' for the way he forced his way past several law enforcement officers and took a lot of effort to bring down.
Others suggested he must have been wearing the 'weakest cuffs on earth', or that he 'damn near was' like Hulk.
There have been many escape attempts from courts over the years, and they don't typically end well for the person trying them.
Over here in the UK a man named Nicholas Bunclark managed to do a runner from Liverpool Crown Court back in 2023 after being sentenced to 16 months behind bars for assault.
Found guilty during his trial, at his sentencing the man jumped over the gate of the dock and after a 'brief tussle' he was able to make his way past officers and do what Reaggle could not, make it out of the court.
However, the next day he then voluntarily handed himself in at a police station and his legal representative said he'd been struck by a 'moment of madness' during his escape.
Once he'd got out of the court he made it to a nearby station and boarded a train, but then 'didn't really know what to do', he pleaded guilty and said he'd been struck by 'a sense of panic' as he apologised to the court and was given another four months on his sentence.
Joe Harker