What a meathead!

Ramon Ortega, accused of stealing a salami from a Brownsville grocery store, ran from a misdemeanor right into a felony yesterday when he fled a detention area in Brooklyn Criminal Court.

If he’d just waited to see a judge, Ortega, 36, probably would have been freed on bail, said a law enforcement source.

But by running, he added a felony charge of escaping a detention facility to the misdemeanor petit larceny and possession of stolen property charges he faced for shoplifting a salami.

Ortega ran off at about 2:15 p.m., as 73rd Precinct officers led him and another prisoner back to their holding cell after a bathroom break, said sources.

He was back in police custody four hours later, at the 67th Precinct in Flatbush, said sources.

Ortega was initially busted Monday afternoon by a security guard who caught him taking the salami from the Food Bazaar store on St. John’s Place.