Lancaster, CA - Naked Man Crashes - Tries to Steals Patrol Car - Subdued with Stun Gun

Naked man wreaks havoc
One bad turn leads to another
 

LANCASTER - A naked motorist who crashed a car into at least one parked vehicle and a building, then tried to steal the truck of two workmen and a sheriff's patrol car, was subdued by deputies using a stun gun and with the help of a neighbor who had followed him.
The naked man, suspected of being high on drugs, tried to steal the workmen's truck after his own car apparently got stuck in a muddy dirt road, then hit a deputy in the face with a bunch of keys while trying to get into his patrol car, authorities said.

"He's just crazy," said painter Jose Velasco, into whose pickup truck the man had climbed after pulling a gasoline can out of the truck's cargo bed. "He said `I want to put fire in the truck."'

The man, identified as 33-year-old Larry Duncan of Lancaster, was taken to Antelope Valley Hospital to be checked for injuries suffered in the fight with deputies as well as the effects of the suspected drugs, sheriff's officials said.

Two deputies suffered minor injuries in the fight, sheriff's Sgt. Michael Handley said.

Duncan was expected to be booked on suspicion of carjacking, hit-and-run driving and assault on a peace officer once he was released from the hospital, deputies said.

The incident started just after 8 a.m. Thursday, when the Lancaster sheriff's station received a 911 call that a naked man in a Ford Thunderbird had been involved in hit-and-run crashes, Handley said.

A neighbor drove after the fleeing Thunderbird, found it stopped on a muddy dirt road at Avenue J-8 and 37th Street East and called deputies on his cell phone.

The naked man meanwhile ran a block to a nearby street where workers were finishing up new homes, and got into Velasco's and his brother's pickup truck after taking a gasoline can out of the back.

Pulled out of the truck, the naked man ran at a deputy and hit him in the face with a bunch of keys and tried to get into the deputy's patrol car.

The deputy and a second deputy, with help from the neighbor who had followed him, fought with the man, eventually stunning him with a Taser and taking him into custody, Handley said.

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