Courtroom chaos as man is arraigned in fatal hit-and-run

Hartford, Conn. (WTNH) - The arraignment of a 19-year-old man for the hit and run death of a three-year-old boy was delayed after an emotional disturbance in the courtroom by family members of the victim.

Christian Bordelies remains behind bars on a $200,000 bond, charged with negligent homicide, driving without a license, speeding and evading responsibility in the death of Joseph Ortiz.

Judicial marshals were called in to clear the court as tempers from family members flared when Bordelies name was called. While cameras are allowed in Connecticut courts for arraignments, there was no video of the disturbance. The video does show marshals rushing Bordelies out while a woman yelled "we want justice, we want justice."

Some marshals had to jump over benches while others quickly escorted Bordelies out.

Bordelies' Attorney Deron Freeman said his client's mother and aunt were also in the courtroom. "They were horrified. They were afraid. They're still afraid. They're still in fear. My client was crying."

Freeman says his client ran off after hitting the toddler in Pope Park Thursday because he feared for his life.

"He was fearful at the scene, he has had threats on his life, his family has had threats on their life, he has been charged for evading the scene but I fear what would have happened if he had stayed there," says Freeman.

Police say Bordelies went to the park to smoke a blunt, a marijuana cigarette, when Joseph Ortiz ran out and was hit by the car. The toddler died on the way to the hospital.

"He wasn't under the influence," Attorney Freeman said. "He wasn't driving excessively fast. The police report says a maximum of ten to fifteen miles an hour, so this was an accident that appears to have been unavoidable."

"This wasn't no accident. It was on purpose man," said the boy's father, Raul Ortiz. Ortiz's mother was inconsolable outside court.

"When ya'll see him in jail. When ya'all see this ... in jail, make him suffer, make him suffer," Raul Ortiz said.

"The only thing that pissed me off, is that he killed my son like a dog, that when you come and you hit a dog or a cat or a squirrel or a frog the way you killed my son, and then you say you are innocent and that it was an accident, you left my son under the car," says Raul Ortiz.

"He liked to play around with me, and liked to go to the park, I love him so much, this won't happen no more," says the victim's brother, Raul Ortiz.

When both families were allowed back in the courtroom, state police were also on hand with marshals to make sure nobody got out of line.

Bordelies is expected back in court June 24.