Whenever you are confronted by a potential assault out on the street, running away is perhaps the best recourse to avoid bodily harm. Many people will make this choice over any other unless the act of running away would place him/her at even greater harm. The fact is, many states have laws that require that one should run away from potential violence whenever possible. However, if you are ever confronted by an attacker within the confines of your own home, you are exempt from this legal requirement to run away.
There is no shame in running away from your attacker even if you are a 3rd degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do or a world featherweight champion in boxing. If the attacker decides to follow you and backs you into a corner, only then can you provide an attack as part of your self defense. Running away from an attacker with a knife or a club is always a good option.
Street punks don't necessarily follow the rules when it comes to physically assaulting someone. The rules of street assaults are very different than ring fighting. It is not worth it to stick around and try to pull a Batman technique and try to confront your attacker with the hopes of pinning him to the ground so that police will arrive to arrest him. That is their job. It may be noble of you to do so, but risking potential bodily injury to you should always be your concern.
Remember, if you are ever attacked and you put up a good fight to defend yourself, you should always call police in the end to report the assault by the perpetrator. The laws in America are written to benefit the victim and NOT the attacker. The sooner you call police, the more likely the authorities will believe your story over the perp's. As the old saying goes, ?An innocent man has nothing to hide, but a guilty man does.? This is very true.