Attorney attacked in court

LAFAYETTE – A man grabbed an attorney near a fourth-floor courthouse rotunda railing, after which some witnesses said they feared he was about to push her over the rail.\nThe attack happened Friday soon after a judge ordered Russell Timmons, 48, of Lafayette to pay more than $4,000 in attorney fees in a court case over a traffic crash, officials said.\nOthers present on the fourth floor of the Tippecanoe County Courthouse intervened and separated attorney Linda Polley of Fort Wayne from Timmons, who was arrested and jailed on a preliminary charge of battery.\n"He was trying to grab her, and all I could do is start screaming," Jan Ermel, a court staffer who saw the attack, said. "He was trying to put her over that railing. Oh my god, I thought she was going to go over!"\nPolley had redness around her neck but declined medical treatment after the attack.\nTimmons was at the courthouse for a session with a judge after turning down a $42,000 payment a mediator decided he should receive for damages caused by the other driver in the crash. The judge upheld the mediator's decision but ordered Timmons to pay the attorney fees to the other driver, who was represented by Polley.\nMarcel Katz, Timmons' attorney in the civil case, said he was standing with Timmons' wife when the attack on Polley happened. He said he grabbed Timmons' arm and asked what he was doing.\n"He looked at me and looked off," Katz said. "He just let go of her and put his hands on his head"