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NILES — An Elkhart man who fled police in Niles Charter Township last December sentenced to jail Monday in Berrien County Trial Court.

Eliezer Flores Duran, 41, of Elkhart, pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree fleeing police and two counts of resisting and obstructing police and was sentenced to three concurrent terms of 270 days in jail with credit for 86 days served. He must pay $524 in fines and costs.

The incident occurred Dec. 10 in Niles Township. He also faces charges in Cass County on similar charges.

Defense attorney Carri Briseno said Duran has tried to improve himself while he’s been in jail and gotten a number of certificates for programs completed. She acknowledged that the incident could have ended up being just a civil infraction if he hadn’t fled and resisted police. “But because of his decision making, he has three felonies,” she said.

“I know I’m guilty,” Duran said. “I want to thank the police, they were very professional. I was under the influence of cocaine, I would have stopped normally. Drugs change the way I think. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to obey, I couldn’t … I’ve been trying to avoid problems in jail, I want to stay out of trouble.”

Berrien County Trial Judge Jennifer Smith noted that Duran has past criminal convictions in New York state. “This is not the first time you’ve been stopped, you know you were supposed to stop. Your behavior was totally beyond most fleeing and eluding cases. You were lucky the police handled it the way they did.”