Which brings us to the story of Andrew Blackman.
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At around 3:20 a.m. on December 21, according to Blackman's probable cause statement, which is on view below, an officer pulled over a green Lexus for a lane violation. The car came to a stop on the 2800 block of West Evans Avenue, an area captured in the following interactive graphic. If you have problems seeing the image, click "View Larger Map."
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The driver of the vehicle was Israel Wiggins-Bello, who was subsequently busted for suspected possession of a controlled substance -- an action that led to what everyone will agree is a particularly memorable booking photo:
Blackman, for his part, was in the car's back seat on the right-hand side. After running his name, the arresting officer discovered that he had an active felony weapons warrant out of Michigan -- one serious enough that he could be extradited there.At that point, the report continues, the officer asked Blackman to exit the Lexus, and he did so -- but then broke free of the cop's grasp and sprinted away on foot. He ran east on West Evans, then south on Clay before jumping a fence and entering a parking lot.
This was Blackman's approximate view:
The lot probably appeared pretty benign to Blackman, especially since it would have been dark outside. But it connects to a building that looks like this: Yep, that's the District 4 police station -- and when he "realized where he landed, and that he was surrounded by officers," the DPD's Facebook account reads, "Blackman immediately game up without incident."The PC statement adds: "When asked why he ran, Blackman admitted that he knew he had a warrant and did not want to go to jail."
Then why was he in such a hurry to get there? Here's a larger look at Blackman's mug shot, followed by the aforementioned incident report.