The moment a car came to a stop during a traffic stop, a backseat passenger bolted, as seen in dashcam footage shared by a police department in Arkansas.
The scene unfolded on Oct. 30 when the man got out of the car, made eye contact with police then dropped a black backpack.
Then he ran, and ran and ran some more.
“When you got things to do and don’t have time to wait but get stopped on Pine Ridge Road?!” the Pottsville Police Department asked on Facebook.
The man is seen running along the road before cutting into a field as an officer calls it in.
“Keep running,” the officer yelled toward the man who did just that and quickly got away.
The driver did not know the man or why he ran, police said.
“I just picked him up walking,” someone inside the car is heard saying in the video.
The driver was heading to church before being stopped, according to THV11. Police gave the driver a warning and then got to go on their day.
Authorities said there was nothing illegal in the bag the runner dropped, so the department initially told the public “we are not looking for him and there is no reason to be alarmed.”
But two days later, police said the public had identified the runner.
“If anyone knows (this man), ask him why he decided to go for brisk run on Sunday,” police said on a Facebook post. “You didn’t have any warrants but after looking at the video, is it because of what you had in your right hand? We aren’t definite on what it is but it sure looks like something you shouldn’t have.”
A department spokesperson said the officer let the man run away because of a policy regarding people who flee from a vehicle with others inside.
“This is to keep the officers safe from being shot as they run past the vehicle or run over,” police said.
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