We interrupt this escape from police custody to bring you the following Facebook message.
“Yes I Ran!!” Arius Hopkins, 23, posted on the social media site Saturday morning.
Hopkins, busted on drug and weapons charges, slipped out of police handcuffs around 10:40 p.m. Thursday in the Allerton section of the Bronx. He claimed he was unfairly targeted when cops nabbed him outside the Parkside Houses.
So, he had to make a run for it, he explained.
“Why Not…You Would To (sic) If The Cops Pull You Over Without Probable Cause??”
Cops grabbed Hopkins in a park near the housing development as they responded to a domestic violence call. Police claim Hopkins had a gun and drugs. Police chased and then tackled him.
Police were looking for the weapon and the drugs he ditched when Hopkins ran down the street — his hands still cuffed behind his back.
Pleading his case to the court of public opinion, Hopkins — who was still being sought late Saturday — said he hadn’t done anything wrong when he was apprehended.
“They Saying I Fit The Description For A Domestic Violence Case And I Was In My Mother’s House. I Don’t Live With My girlfriend. What Domestic Violence…i did Not Fit Any description, they Just Wanted to harass me,” he wrote, accentuating his point with an eye-roll emoji.
Hopkins, who has 17 prior arrests, said the police threatened his life when they took him into custody.
“Talking About There (sic) Gonna F–k Me up If I Move,” Hopkins wrote, asking his Facebook followers to like and share his post. “And I Have Already Had Altercations Wit (sic) The Police… They Already Beat (the) Life Out Of Me in 2014 for Nothing.”
“Honestly I’m Tired Of That…The Law Enforcement Violating Our Young Minorities Because They Feel Were(sic) not Smart enough To Know Our rights,” he wrote. “And Frankly, I’m So Tired Of That. There (sic) Trying To Paint Me As A Bad Guy I’m Not… WHAT GUN…THERE WAS NO GUN. WHAT DRUGS, THERE WAS NONE??”
“(I’m) Just A Young Black Young Man That’s Been Racially Profiled,” he wrote, adding a frown emoji. “Like Every Other Time. But I’m Going To Get My Story Out! The Truth!”
Hopkins first took to social media since his escape on Friday afternoon in an all-caps tirade about his disdain for life behind bars.
“N—-S DONT KNOW HOW IT FEEL TO BE IN JAIL FOR YEARS,” Hopkins posted. “YOU DONT EAT UR 1st MEAL TILL 11:00 YOU FEEL UR STOMACH TOUCH YOUR SPINE.”
His posts have had the desired effect with his Facebook friends cheering him on.
“U did the right thing I give u that all the way,” Alessia Martinez.
Hopkins was the fifth person to escape custody this year. The other four were apprehended in short order, police said.
