Running away from police turned out to be a costly mistake for a Benton Harbor man.

Decarlos Lamont Pierson, 20, was sentenced Monday to a minimum of one year in prison for one count of resisting and obstructing a police officer.

Pierson, who pleaded guilty to the charge earlier this fall, apologized for his actions and said he wouldn’t have ran if he hadn’t been using controlled substances.

“It was a stupid decision to run from police,” he said during a sentencing hearing Monday in Berrien County Trial Court in Niles.

Pierson’s lawyer, Albert Mais, said his client did not injure or physically resist the officers, he simply ran.

Judge Dennis Wiley warned Pierson that substance abuse is taking control of his life.

“You are letting substances run and ruin you life all at the same time,” he said, prior to handing down the penalty of between 12 and 24 months in state prison.

Also Monday, 17-year-old Jeremiah Leigh Hammons, of Niles, was sentenced to 210 days in jail for one count of criminal sexual conduct in the third degree.

Hammons’ attorney, Mais, said his client engaged in a consensual sexual relationship with a girl that was 14 years old.