In one sense, Norman “Bo” Thompson isn’t a flight risk. As his graceless leap from a third-floor balcony shows, no matter how hard he flapped his arms, the suspected burglar couldn’t fly.

What Thompson can do, however, is flee.

He’s proven it countless times, enough to have police across Central Maine slap him with the tag of “runner.” In this sense too, Thompson isn’t a flight risk, because the “risk” has long since been removed.

Perhaps the best way to describe him is as a “flight certainty.”

So, logic dictates, the best place for Thompson to cool his heels would be county jail. Except, for some reason, the district attorney’s office and a judge decided to release him without setting bail, setting off howls of protest.

Thompson was, of course, the suspect collared last week by an alert, aggressive Sun Journal photographer.

What we want to see is a little common sense, and some sign by those entrusted to uphold justice that they comprehend public sentiment. There wasn’t a person in this community who wished to see Thompson back on the street, especially his own flesh-and-blood. Even his mother thinks jail is the best place for him.

Police are exhausted from chasing him, and believe he is a one-man crime wave powered by drug addiction. It took police a week to find him this time, and he tried to soar from a third-floor to escape.

Save our photographer, he could still be running.

The last thing he deserved, or earned, was the court’s free pass and subsequent head start. Maybe he’ll appear for his next court hearing. It’s more likely he’ll be picked up again for another crime, one which could have been prevented by simple judicial practicality.

People like Thompson, though, are petulant poster children for Maine’s justice system. While nonviolent, Thompson is also beyond reform. He is a drug addict, according to family, who will steal as long as his appetite for crack cocaine goes unappeased.

Locking him away won’t really do much good, when what he needs is rehabilitation. Stories like his are the bane of Maine’s courts and jails. Much of the jail overcrowding so scrutinized today can be linked to the recidivism of offenders with obvious substance abuse problems.

Most, however, don’t run from police like a wide receiver off the snap. This trait sets Thompson apart, which is why, while he’s suspected of numerous crimes around the region, he should have been removed from circulation. This was obvious to police, his family, and the public-at-large.

Only the prosecutor and the judge were oblivious.

When Thompson runs again, or does something worse, they should be ready to answer why.