Knox County prisoner flees courthouse after bail hearing

ROCKLAND – Police were searching for a man who escaped from the Knox County Courthouse after a bail hearing Wednesday – the same man who punched an officer in the same building seven years ago.

Steven E. Clarke, 38, had not been captured Wednesday night, and authorities were distributing his mug shot.

Clarke is a 5-foot-7 white male with blond hair and blue eyes and weighs 140 pounds.

He last was seen wearing a yellow Knox County Jail uniform, said Chief Deputy Todd Butler.

Clarke was at a bail hearing in Superior Court on a variety of charges, including assault, just before his 12:30 p.m. escape, Butler said. He was outside a holding cell when he managed to escape without guards seeing him. He was not handcuffed, Butler said.

“We’re investigating how all that happened,” Butler said.

It was not clear Wednesday night how long Clarke was missing before it was noticed.

On Aug. 23, 1995, Clarke was in a holding cell at the courthouse awaiting a hearing when he refused to enter the courtroom. After making threatening statements, Clarke punched a sheriff’s sergeant in the left eye and had to be wrestled into submission by two officers.

“I would consider him assaultive,” Butler said Wednesday.

Most recently, Clarke was arrested Jan. 28 by Maine State Police Trooper Jason Andrews and charged with assault, terrorizing, criminal trespass and violation of conditions of release. Police said the charges stem from a domestic dispute.

Clarke had been in jail since his arrest.