Criminal Justice

Lawyer Accused of Robbery Leaps From Ledge

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An Oklahoma lawyer accused of robbing a drugstore is in critical condition after leaping from a hospital window yesterday, landing on a roof of a building three stories below.

Robert Behlen was taken to the University of Oklahoma Medical Center after he stabbed himself in the neck with a pencil while being held in jail. The Edmond lawyer barricaded himself in his room and paced on a ledge outside his window. He jumped after police entered the ledge, apparently from a nearby room, and tried to subdue him with a Taser, Koco.com reports.

Police are not sure if the Taser connected with Behlen, but they said it did not affect him and he jumped on his own accord. That account was confirmed by Steve Gooch, a photographer for The Oklahoman. “There was a struggle out there on the ledge, and then the guy forced himself over the ledge,” he told NewsOK.com. “He definitely leaped.”

Behlen was accused of taking painkillers in three armed robberies of a pharmacy over an 11-minute period, ABAJournal.com noted in an earlier post.

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