By Associated Press, 6/19/02

PAINESVILLE, Ohio — A man who ran from police suddenly has a reason to put his running shoes back on.

Painesville Municipal Judge Michael Cicconetti ordered Michael Logar, 33, to run in a five-mile race on July 28 instead of serving six months in jail.

Logar admitted he ran from a car June 9 when a State Highway Patrol trooper stopped it after seeing Logar, a passenger, drinking a beer. He was charged with failure to comply and resisting arrest but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of attempted obstruction of official business.

Cicconetti suspended 170 days of a 180-day jail sentence Monday on the condition that Logar run the race. The better Logar does in the race, the less time he will have to serve under house arrest.

Cicconetti said Logar's sentence is meant to send a message.

"Since he likes to run from police, I'm going to give him a chance to run away as hard as he can," Cicconetti said.

Logar will spend 10 days in jail with work-release privileges starting Tuesday and will be given up to four hours of training time daily to prepare for the race.

Cicconetti is known for giving unusual sentences. Earlier this year, he ordered a man who called a police officer a pig to stand in a pen with a 350-pound pig for two hours on a city sidewalk.