REDWOOD CITY — Dozens of friends and family members reacted with joy and relief Friday in a packed courtroom as Ronald Bridgeforth, who fled the state in 1969 after a gunbattle with South San Francisco police officers, was sentenced to one year in county jail and three years of probation.

Bridgeforth, who turned himself in last year after more than 40 years in hiding, had faced the possibility of five years in state prison. He is expected to serve just half his jail sentence.

In court, Bridgeforth apologized for the shooting and said he’s tried to atone for his crime. He spent the past 13 years as a counselor at Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, Mich., where he said he devoted his life to inspiring and encouraging young people.

“My actions were misguided, reckless and they endangered everyone’s life,” Bridgeforth said of the shooting. “I had lost my way.”

Bridgeforth opened fire on two officers on Nov. 5, 1968, after he was caught trying to use a stolen credit card at a discount store in South San Francisco. He pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer but disappeared before he could be sentenced.

Bridgeforth moved around for several years before settling down in 1975 in Michigan. He adopted the alias Cole Lee Jordan and raised two children with his wife, Diane, a lecturer at Eastern Michigan University, who attended Friday’s hearing.

Two students flew in from Michigan to speak on his behalf. One of them, Zachary Baker, said he was homeless and on the verge of dropping out when a school administrator suggested he meet with Bridgeforth. Their conversation changed his life. He’s now studying to be a social worker at the University of Michigan and volunteers with inner-city youth.

“Everyone I’ve helped and everyone I will help is a direct result of the influence Mr. Bridgeforth has had on my life,” said Baker, his voice shaking with emotion.

Judge Lisa Novak weighed Bridgeforth’s remorse and his service-directed life in Michigan against testimony from two officers who were nearly slain that day in 1968 when Bridgeforth fired several gunshots at them with a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson in a crowded parking lot. The District Attorney’s office claims Bridgeforth had ties then to the militant Black Liberation Army, an assertion the man’s attorney, Paul Harris, denies.

Retired Lt. George Baptista told the court Friday he ducked down in his police cruiser as Bridgeforth fired two shots at him, one shattering a rear passenger window and the other glancing off the roof of the car.

“It’s a miracle that no one was injured, a miracle that I wasn’t killed,” said Baptista, who claimed no animosity against Bridgeforth but nonetheless asked Novak to impose a state prison sentence.

The shooting in South San Francisco wasn’t the only time Bridgeforth ran afoul of the law. The fugitive returned to the Bay Area for a few months in 1971 after spending two years in Africa. The Attorney General’s Office charged him and several people in the fatal shooting of a San Francisco police officer in August 1971, but the charge was dropped last year. In November 1971, he was arrested for carrying a loaded firearm in a vehicle. He was released after giving police a false name.

And his time in Michigan may not have been entirely placid. Karen Guidotti, chief deputy district attorney, told the court Bridgeforth was reprimanded by Washtenaw Community College a few years ago for sexually harassing a colleague.

A report prepared by the Probation Department recommended a prison sentence for Bridgeforth, suggesting he hadn’t taken full ownership of the crime.

“He claims to have little memory of his actions in this offense,” the report said in part. “Instead, he attempted to present himself as somewhat of a martyr, who has already suffered numerous consequences while living on the run.”

Novak rejected the notion that Bridgeforth’s self-imposed exile was tantamount to punishment. On the other hand, she credited him for turning himself in and said she does not consider him a threat to public safety.

“You came out of the shadows after 43 years to ultimately take responsibility,” Novak said.

In addition to jail time, Novak sentenced Bridgeforth to three years of probation and 300 hours of community service, which will entail tutoring at-risk children in Alameda County, where he now resides. He must also pay a fine of $8,500.

Bridgeforth’s 82-year-old mother was one of roughly 100 people who showed up at San Mateo County Superior Court to support the one-time fugitive.

“I’m very glad it wasn’t worse than it was,” Neodros Bridgeforth said of her 67-year-old son’s sentence. “I thought it was very reasonable.”

Contact Aaron Kinney at 650-348-4357.