ATLANTA (AP) — A handcuffed man seeking to avoid arrest died after crashing head-first through the third-floor window glass of a downtown Atlanta office building and falling 40 feet to the ground, authorities said Tuesday.
The man reported Tuesday to a pretrial services program of Atlanta's Fulton County Superior Court when authorities determined he had a gun nearby and they were preparing to arrest him, court spokeswoman Tiffany Russell said.
Fulton County Sheriff's spokeswoman Tracy Flanagan said the man jumped from the window after he had been handcuffed and seated. He later died of his injuries at a hospital. A hole could be seen in window glass where he exited the building.
Investigator Clint Harbin at the Fulton County Medical Examiner's office identified the man as 22-year-old Tyquan Richardson.
Flanagan said the gun was found concealed in paperwork with the man's name on it outside a security checkpoint. Authorities did not immediately disclose any information as to why the gun was in the paperwork.
Flanagan said Richardson had told deputies after the gun was discovered that he didn't want to go back to jail. Richardson later ran headfirst toward the window and fell 40 feet, according to the sheriff's spokeswoman.
Richardson had been arrested on drug charges and was released Friday, according to Fulton County jail records. Richardson had also been arrested in 2013 on aggravated assault and battery charges, those records also showed.
The leap occurred at the Atlanta offices of a pretrial services program that gathers information on people who face criminal charges, those booked into jail and others. It also monitors defendants out on bond while awaiting trial, its website shows.