A Florida bond court hearing was interrupted Friday after an inmate claimed he had Ebola.
The hearings take place twice a day, with inmates at Broward County's main jail speaking through a closed-circuit television feed to a judge in the county courthouse. When it was Joseph Britton's turn to appear during the morning bond hearing, Judge John "Jay" Hurley, speaking from his courtroom, said to a man standing next to the jail lectern: "I'd back up, and I'd back up pretty quick if I were you."
Joseph Britton. (Courtesy of the Broward County Sheriff's Office)
"Now. I dunno. I dunno, what do we do," the judge said before asking Britton to step aside.
Hurley called for a deputy in the jail.
"Deputy," the judge said, "this gentleman has claimed he has Ebola."
The deputy responded with an expletive before following the judge's suggestion to clear the room of everyone but Britton.
As the other inmates walked out, Britton told the judge that an officer took his Ebola claim "out of context."
"It was a nurse that had Ebola that was in Ft. Lauderdale..." Britton started, before the judge told him to wait.
The Fort Lauderdale reference presumably pertains to the Ebola diagnosis of a nurse in Dallas. Amber Vinson flew on Frontier Airlines from Ohio back to Dallas on Monday, one day before being hospitalized with symptoms of the disease. The plane flew through Fort Lauderdale after Vinson's flight before being decontaminated on Tuesday.
There is no confirmation that Britton was on that flight or that he's experiencing any symptoms associated with Ebola.
According the Broward County Sheriff's Office, Britton was arrested Thursday and charged with battery, breach of peace and resisting an officer without violence.
jail officials let inmates back into the courtroom within an hour after Britton's claim; a deputy said officials were "taking steps" to determine whether the inmate really had Ebola.