Marathoner Runs 5 Miles to Evade Cops

But police eventually find him in his daughter's closet
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 22, 2014 10:00 AM CST
Marathoner Runs 5 Miles to Evade Cops
Eric Kipkemei Chirchir in his police photo.   (Bergen County Sheriff's Department)

An accomplished marathon runner from Kenya apparently resorted to his first instinct when police showed up to arrest him on charges of sexual assault—he ran 5 miles, reports the New Jersey Star-Ledger. Eric Kipkemei Chirchir, 31, bolted from his place of work to his home, where police found him hiding in the closet of his 6-year-old daughter. "He's fast," says a detective in Bogota, NJ. "This is one of the world's elite marathon runners."

Runner's World more or less backs that up, noting that Chirchir was a "regular victor" in US races in 2012 and 2013. The charges are anything but a joke: Chirchir is accused of touching a 15-year-old girl inappropriately in the locker room at the golf center where he works. He now also faces charges of resisting arrest and eluding police—along with deportation. (More runner stories.)

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