Pubdate: Mon, 11 May 2015
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2015 The New York Times Company
Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/lettertoeditor.html
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: John Eligon

RUNNING FROM POLICE IS THE NORM, SOME IN BALTIMORE SAY

BALTIMORE - Some do it because there are warrants for their arrest. 
Others because they possess drugs, are seeking a thrill, or are just 
plain scared. Sometimes people do it even when they have done nothing wrong.

Young men in the heavily policed neighborhood where 25-year-old 
Freddie Gray was chased by the police - and suffered fatal injuries 
in custody - say running from officers is a way of life with its own 
playbook, passed down on the streets in much the way a young girl 
learns double dutch by watching others on the block.

Turn at the nearest corner to escape the officers' view. Cut through 
alleys or narrow paths with hiding spots. Once the pursuers have been 
eluded, stay put for a while to make sure they are really gone. And 
if getting caught seems inevitable, surrender where there are plenty 
of witnesses to reduce the odds of being beaten.

Mr. Gray's death was among a number of recent cases in which unarmed 
men, who were either black or Hispanic, were killed after fleeing 
from the police. Other cases include ones in North Charleston, S.C.; 
Tulsa , Okla.; and Pasco, Wash.

For the nation, those deaths have spurred debate on the use of force 
by the police, particularly against people suspected of low-level or 
nonviolent crimes. But for young men in Baltimore, Mr. Gray's death 
highlights a sharper dilemma they have long struggled with: Is 
running worth it?

Many say that it is, and that Mr. Gray's death has not changed their 
calculation in deciding whether to run.

"That makes you run faster," said one young man standing on a street 
near the neighborhood where Mr. Gray encountered the police.

Running from the police is common enough nationally that the Supreme 
Court has considered the question of whether the police are justified 
in stopping and searching people solely because they have fled 
approaching officers.

In a 2000 case from Chicago, Illinois v. Wardlow, the court ruled 
that police officers can establish reasonable suspicion to stop and 
search if the person is in a high-crime area and sees the officers 
before fleeing. Many legal experts believe those criteria apply in 
the arrest of Mr. Gray in West Baltimore, a neighborhood known for 
its drug trafficking, where one of the arresting officers said Mr. 
Gray made eye contact with him before running.

Naturally, many people run if there are warrants for their arrest, 
fearing that if the police check their names they will be hauled to 
jail. People might flee because they have drugs and do not want to be 
in possession of contraband if officers catch them.

Yet some say they also are driven by fear of the unknown. In St. 
Louis, for instance, young men talk of being caught up in what they 
call a "free case" - in which, they believe, an officer trumps up 
charges or plants contraband to meet arrest quotas. Here in 
Baltimore, residents complain that the police might rough them up 
during random stops, even if they do not try to escape.

Jeff Roorda, the business manager for the St. Louis Police Officers' 
Association, challenged the contention that people run from the 
police because of harassment or brutality.

"I'm not going to refrain from swimming in Loch Ness because I think 
there's a monster in there any more than a kid on the street should 
refrain from complying with the police because of the urban myth that 
the cop has some motivation to make up the charges," he said. "People 
don't get 'free cased.' They run from the police because they've got 
some reason to run from the police."

And when that happens, Mr. Roorda added, the results can be bad. "Not 
because of something the police do," he said. "Because of something 
the guy running did, and that is fail to comply."

As children, several Baltimore residents said, they turned running 
from the police into a high-stakes game of tag. Most spoke on the 
condition of anonymity or gave only their street names because they 
did not want to be identified by the police.

A 21-year-old man who goes by Reek said his youthful encounters with 
the police usually went something like this: Officers would pull up 
while he stood with friends on a corner and tell them to move. They 
would make a smart remark to the officers, the officers would 
respond, and so they would jaw back and forth until the officers 
seemed to have enough and got out of the car.

"And they'll chase us," Reek said.

"Around here, you grow up into that stuff," he added. "Now, as I'm 
older, it's no point. Because now, if you look at it, if you run, 
it's going to make matters even worse."

Yet for some, there are very basic reasons to run, even as an adult.

Nelly, a 27-year-old from Baltimore, said that as a pair of officers 
were preparing to arrest him for having a marijuana joint last 
summer, he had a quick calculation to make. He had just gotten a new 
job as a maintenance technician at an apartment complex, so going to 
jail that night could have meant missing work the next day and 
possibly losing his job. The officers had a loose grip on him, and he 
knew he could break free if he wanted. But was it worth the risk?

Yes, he decided.

He bolted and quickly caught a break when one of the officers fell 
off the curb. Nelly said he cut down an alley, jetted into an 
abandoned house and lay face down.

"It was bugs and everything," he said.

He waited for about an hour, he said, and then used his cellphone to 
call a friend to pick him up.

The police did eventually catch up with him, about a week later, he 
said, when the officers who had given chase recognized him and took 
him into custody. When the arresting officers asked why he had run, 
he said, he told them: "Man, I had to work. I got three kids, you 
know. I couldn't miss no work."

He did not run the day they took him into custody, he said, because 
he was outside playing with his little cousins at the time.

"I didn't want to set a bad example," he said.

But his friend Devin, 26, said he did not have as much luck several 
years back when he ditched the all-terrain vehicle he was riding 
illegally and led the police on a foot chase. With a police 
helicopter overhead, Devin said, he made it to a truck storage yard 
and hid inside a discarded tire. But when he heard the crackle of a 
police radio, he hopped a fence and landed back on the street. Right 
in front of him was a burgundy Crown Victoria with police officers inside.

He walked nonchalantly as if he were just another person on the 
sidewalk until he heard the screech of tires from a police car, he said.

"I took off," he said.

But it was blazing hot that day. He already had shed his hoodie and 
removed his gloves, yet after just a few blocks he was breathing 
heavily as the police car cruised alongside him.

"If I keep running," he thought, "I'm liable to pass out."

He saw four elderly women standing on the sidewalk, he said, and 
stopped in front of them and raised his hands in surrender. An 
officer then slammed him to the ground, he said.

"Sir, what you do that for," he recalled one of the women asking the 
officer. "He gave up."

Their presence saved him from further force, he said he believed.

Mr. Davis, who believes that people will continue to flee from the 
police, said he stopped running in recent years because he felt he 
was not doing things that warranted legal trouble. Still, he 
sometimes regrets that decision. He has been locked up numerous 
times, he said, for what he sees as petty offenses like possessing 
small amounts of marijuana. One time, it happened when he was smoking 
a joint in his backyard, he said.

"Those times," Mr. Davis said, "I should have run."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom