Table becomes casualty in Lake County courtroom brawl

It is reasonable to suggest Emmanuel Lang does not take bad news well.

Lang, 19, was ordered held on $125,000 bond Wednesday after he fought with sheriff's deputies in a Lake County courtroom.

Lake County Assistant State's Attorney Scott Hoffert said Lang, of Waukegan, was in court because the state was trying to revoke his probation on a conviction for criminal damage to property.

The case was first called at 9:40 a.m., Hoffert said, and an arrest warrant was issued when Lang was not present.

He entered the courtroom a little after 11 a.m., and was brought before Associate Judge Theodore Potkonjak.

After Potkonjak was told Lang had not reported to his probation officer in almost a year, Potkonjak ordered him held on $50,000 bond.

As deputies moved in to take him into custody, Hoffert said, Lang flashed gang hand signs to someone in the audience.

When the officers told him to stop, Hoffert said, Lang struggled with them and tried to keep his hands out of handcuffs.

The fight became so intense the two deputies and Lang crashed onto one of the two tables set out for lawyers to use, shattering it.

"I actually had no idea what was going on because I was walking out of the courtroom," Potkonjak said later. "I heard a crash, turned around, and saw the three of them rolling around on the ground."

Lang appeared before Associate Judge Daniel Shanes later in the day and was charged with resisting arrest and criminal damage to property.

He is due in court April 19.