Disrepectful words toward traffic court judge, tussle with court security lands man in jail
URBANA IL April 2 2021 — A Chicago man’s alleged demeaning label for a judge and a tussle with a security officer in Champaign County traffic court netted him a day in jail and led to extra criminal charges against him.
Judge Ronda Holliman found Bobby Ford, 58, in direct criminal contempt for disrupting court proceedings by yelling out, calling her a pejorative name and wrangling with court officers Tuesday. She then sentenced him to a day in jail.
On Wednesday, the state’s attorney’s added criminal charges of aggravated battery to a peace officer, battery and resisting a peace officer to his punishment from the judge.
Champaign County sheriff’s Lt. Curt Apperson said the incidents happened about 3 p.m. Tuesday in Holliman’s courtroom on the first floor, where Ford had shown up for a pretrial appearance in a misdemeanor fleeing-police case and a speeding ticket from September.
Apparently frustrated by how long it was taking to get to his case, Ford said aloud that he didn’t have time to be sitting there. When the judge told him to sit down, he called her a name and headed out the door.
In her order, Holliman wrote that Ford “disrupted court proceedings by yelling in court” and called her a disrespectful name.
Ford was then told to return to the courtroom where he would be held for a contempt proceeding. At that time, he became “combative and resisted court officers,” her order said.
“His actions endangered attorneys, defendants and court personnel,” Holliman wrote.
The battery charges filed against Ford allege that he grabbed security officer Dylan Bullard by the chest and pulled him around. The resisting charge alleged he pulled his wrists away from Bullard as Bullard tried to put handcuffs on him.
Apperson said Bullard was not injured but his radio microphone and his name tag got pulled off his chest in the scrum.
The lieutenant said that another court security officer displayed a Taser, which was enough to get Ford to cooperate. It was not fired.
Judge Adam Dill arraigned Ford Wednesday on the criminal charges, advising him that if convicted of the most serious — aggravated battery to a peace officer — he faces penalties ranging from probation to three to seven years in prison.
Dill set Ford’s bond in the new case at $10,000 and told him to be back in court April 20 for a probable-cause hearing.
His traffic case had already been continued to May 6.
