Here's a simple bit of personal knowledge and experience that I thought I ought to pass on to those of us who might be considering encountering this situation in the future.
Being beaten by cops with a billy-club does hurt; it hurts a lot.
(A few years later, when a 2nd time began to unfold, this wisdom was revealed to me: It is much less painful to climb over a tall chain link fence than to be beaten, again, by the LAPD.)