Why Black People Running From the Police Makes Perfect Sense

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20. Don't forget the biggest reason:

Running frequently works.

Obviously, you don't want to hop in a car and peel out in rush hour traffic, then you'll get 200 cops running you down.

But if you sprint over a fence, then down the block, then into a neighbor's house before the cops can figure out where you went, that's a clean getaway.

Shows like COPS will portray running from the police as an endeavor that is futile, and will just lead to you getting your ass kicked. In reality, sometimes, you can get away.

From this article: http://inthesetimes.com/article/17882/why-black-people-running-from-the-police-makes-perfect-sense

Those who interact rarely with the police may assume that running away after a police stop is futile. Worse, it could lead to increased charges or to violence. While the second part is true, the first is not. In my first eighteen months on 6th Street, I observed a young man running after he had been stopped on 41 different occasions. Of these, 8 involved men fleeing their houses during raids; 23 involved men running after being stopped while on foot (including running after the police had approached a group of people of whom the man was a part); 6 involved car chases; and 2 involved a combination of car and foot chases, where the chase began by car and continued with the man getting out and running.

In 24 of these cases, the man got away. In 17 of the 24, the police didn’t appear to know who the man was and couldn’t bring any charges against him after he had fled. Even in cases where the police subsequently charged him with fleeing or other crimes, the successful getaway allowed the man to stay out of jail longer than he might have if he’d simply permitted the police to cuff him and take him in.