280 days of Urbpandemonium #20
Generally speaking, these guys are too fast to be pinned down by a human hand. Then again, if you see one in the daylight, chances are it's not doing too well anyway. Vigorous and repeated attempts at chemical control mean that many cockroaches encountered indoors are staggering about impaired by a neurotoxin.
This on-the-back posture has been discussed elsewhere, common to dead and dying roaches. This individual is Periplaneta americana, the "American cockroach" which is probably native to subsaharan Africa. Think of it as tiny bit of karma for America's gruesome plunder of that continent's people and resources.
They can only survive indoors in hot and humid places like boiler rooms, subways, locker rooms, and greenhouses.