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Less than two minutes after a district judge ordered him to jail on Tuesday morning, a handcuffed Mark Taylor Kuntz, still in District Judge Gary Whiteman's courtroom, suddenly became unruly and scuffled with two state troopers that resulted in a sizeable hole being put in a wall.
Jailed on charges stemming from a domestic disturbance, Kuntz and the troopers were waiting for prison-commitment papers to be prepared when Kuntz, still seated, began banging his head against his handcuffs, Whiteman said he was told.
When the troopers tried to secure his hands in an attempt to stop him from harming himself, Kuntz suddenly stood up and took one step forward, according what the judge was told.
As the troopers moved quickly to gain control of Kuntz, there was a brief struggle, sending Kuntz and a trooper into the wall.
Whiteman did not witness the confrontation. Right after he ordered Kuntz to jail, he stepped out to another room to speak with another man about a summary criminal matter.
However, hearing the commotion, the judge quickly returned to the courtroom and saw the troopers already had Kuntz secured, facedown on a table.
Charged by state police with strangulation, simple assault, endangering the welfare of children and harassment, Kuntz, 32, of 74 Lower Barbours Road, was initially ordered to the Lycoming County Prison in lieu of $50,000 bail.
However, following Kuntz's unruly behavior, Whiteman changed it to no bail.
"The scuffle showed me that he should not be allowed out in the community. Part of my job is to protect the community," he said.
Whiteman, a judge for 11 years, said defendants have yelled obscenities at him and been defiant, "but never before has it gotten to this point. This is my first hole in the wall."
The assault charges against Kuntz stem from him attacking his girlfriend in the couple's Plunketts Creek Township home on Saturday afternoon.
The girlfriend was holding a child at the time, police said.