By Patti Weaver

 

  (Stillwater, Okla.) — An ex-convict, who reportedly fled from a third-floor courtroom after a judge ordered him jailed, was apprehended on the first floor after being repeatedly tased by Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Jacob Secrest while he was assisting with courthouse security, court records show.
    Due to his criminal record, former Cushing resident Richard Eli Calderon, 44, of Oklahoma City, could be imprisoned for 10 years to life if convicted of attempted escape from detention in the Payne County Courthouse last week.
    Deputy Secrest wrote in an affidavit that at 2:14 pm on Feb. 28, “I was assisting with courthouse security when I received a telephone call from courtroom 310 advising they had an individual remanded to jail. Deputy Jeff Kramer headed upstairs to take the individual, later identified as Richard Calderon, into custody.
    “Before Deputy Kramer arrived, I received a second phone call from courtroom 310 advising Richard was fleeing the courtroom to escape custody.
    “After receiving the second phone call, I checked the camera system and observed a white male in what appeared to be a black t-shirt and gray pants running down the stairs to the first floor and attempting to exit the east hallway emergency exit doors. I activated the emergency door locks for the main entrance and proceeded to the main, east, and west hallway junction.
    “As I approached the junction, I could hear Richard running towards me. I drew my department-issued Taser and activated it. As Richard came into my view, I aimed the Taser at him so that the green laser was pointed at Richard’s chest and ordered Richard to stop. Richard looked at me and continued to run past me down the west hallway.
    “Once Richard ran past me, I fired the first cartridge in my Taser and both probes struck Richard in his left shoulder blade towards the middle of his back. There was not enough spread between the probes for a good effect, and Richard continued to run.
    “I fired the second cartridge in my Taser and one of the probes hit Richard in his right lower back approximately three inches above his belt line while the second probe missed Richard.
    “The probes in Richard’s shoulder worked in conjunction with the probe in Richard’s lower back causing Richard to experience neuromuscular incapacitation, which caused Richard’s muscles to contract, and Richard fell striking his face against the tile floor in front of the Victim Witness Center office.
    “When Richard struck the floor, it caused a laceration on his head, which was later treated by medical staff at the Stillwater Medical Center Emergency Room. Richard’s momentum from running caused him to slide on the tile approximately four more feet before coming to rest just before the District Attorney’s Restitution Office.
    “At this time Deputy Kramer, who had been chasing Richard, arrived and began to try and retake Richard into custody. Richard continued to resist by not giving Deputy Kramer his right hand.
    “I ordered Richard to put his hands behind his back or I would utilize the Taser against him again and I pressed it into his lower back. Richard initially complied and I removed the Taser from his back and Richard pulled his arm away.
    “Deputy Kramer attempted to grab Richard’s arm and Richard tensed up preventing Deputy Kramer from getting Richard’s arm. I placed the Taser against Richard’s back again and engaged it to drive stun Richard in the lower back.
    “Richard tried to kick me so I placed my right knee on top of his right hamstring and pinned his leg down. Richard reached around and grabbed my Taser attempting to pull it from his back.
    “I grabbed Richard’s arm and pulled the Taser from his grip and put it back into his lower back for the remainder of the five-second cycle. Richard stopped resisting at this point, and Deputy Kramer was able to place handcuffs on Richard’s wrists.”
    Calderon remains jailed pending a court appearance this week on his attempted escape charge along with a 1998 Payne County four-count property crime conviction on which he was ordered to pay $20,000 restitution and a 2022 false personation charge in Perkins, court records show.
    According to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, Calderon had been convicted of larceny in Arizona in 1999, second-degree burglary in Stillwater in 2002 for which he served about five and one-half years of a 10-year prison term, grand larceny in Payne County in 1997, and grand larceny in Oklahoma County in 2018.