Say what you will about Paul Ruiz...that he's not that bright, that he's a convicted sex offender, a ne'er do well spotted prowling around people's cars in the wee hours clad all in black clothes...But you can't say he doesn't take a lickin' and keep on tickin.'

Here's a snip from the Corpus Christi Caller-Times on the 30-year-old's painful steeplechase of an attempted escape last weekend:

Witnesses said they saw two men wearing all black looking at vehicles. Officers said they found one man lying down on the driveway in front of a van. When police attempted the speak with the man, he got up and ran, jumping a nearby fence but crashing face-first into the concrete walk on the other side.

As officers continued the chase, the man took off and as he was looking back to see where the officer was, the man smashed full speed into a wooden pole. Knocked to the ground, the man took off running again, climbed over a chain-link fence -- falling partially on his face again -- police said.

Several fence-jumps later, Ruiz was snagged, whereupon he turned street lawyer. He announced to the police that he would not give them his real name unless they agreed to drop his evading arrest charge.

Although this was a stunning and brazen legal gambit, it failed.

After treatment from Corpus EMT personnel, he was nevertheless taken to jail, where he was identified, and duly charged with evading arrest, not to mention suspicion of criminal trespass, failure to identify as a fugitive, and failure to register as a sex offender. (Back in 1996, when he was 16, Ruiz was convicted of the aggravated sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl.)

The light pole was treated at the scene for minor injuries.