A man appearing in an Old City Hall courtroom Wednesday afternoon on minor theft charges broke a window of a first-floor courtroom and dived out, falling six metres and running east on Queen St. in a bid to escape.

He was apprehended by police minutes later and taken into custody. Charges have not yet been laid.

Alex Petropolous, 20, was walking towards the Eaton Centre when he saw the man leap from the window.

“He just dove out and just ran there,” Petropolous said, as a crowd grew in front of the courthouse. “Wow.”

The court clerk in the courtroom said court had adjourned for the day, the judge had left and three accused were being taken back to the cells.

As he was being handcuffed, Jonnathan Wilmott, 30, leapt out of the prisoner’s box, ran behind the judge’s dais and tried to break open the nearest window. That failed but he succeeded breaking a second window at the back of the courtroom with his elbow, and leaped out head first.

He appeared to have cut his arm on the glass and his white t-shirt was bloodstained when he was arrested.

The courtroom clerk said Wilmott made no movement towards the few people in the courtroom and it doesn’t appear the incident raises safety concerns.

“In no way did he threaten us. He just ran. Didn’t say a word,” the clerk said.

Prisoners do sometimes get out of the dock but this is the first he has heard of someone escaping from a window.

In the past few months a man was charged after attempting to escape in the same courtroom — though he didn’t make it out of the window. His case remains before the courts.

Wilmott faces several recent minor theft and breach of probation charges including allegedly stealing from the LCBO and Parkdale Pharmacy.

His matter was set to continue on May 6, though that may now change.