FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A woman escaped from the Broward County courthouse for a short time Thursday morning after she attended a hearing to face charges of grand theft and dealing in stolen merchandise.
A Broward Sheriff's Office representative said shortly before 10 a.m., a judge ordered Dayanira Salazar to be jailed, and as deputies attempted to handcuff her, she took off running.
Deputies said Salazar managed to escape from the sixth floor, run down a flight of stairs and pass security before she tried to hail a cab on the Las Olas River Bridge on Third Avenue.
Bridge tender Percy Williams told Local 10 News that he saw a deputy order Salazar to stop as she got inside the taxi.
"I saw her getting into the cab and she stopped the cab and said, 'Don't move,' this and that, and she scurried out the other end and ran down the street, down the bridge," Williams said.
The deputy lost her car keys during the foot chase and suffered scrapes and bruises when she fell down.
Deputies said Salazar was taken to a hospital because she suffers from asthma.
She is expected to face additional charges once she's released from the hospital.
Salazar was originally accused of stealing jewelry from her sister, with whom she lives, and selling the items to a pawn shop in Lauderdale Lakes, an incident report said.
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