A California man accused of stealing a truck, crashing it, and flipping it on its side is claiming he did so because he was being chased by zombies according to The Inquisitr.
Jeremiah Clyde Hartline, 19, hitchhiked with a semi-trailer truck driver Daniel Martinez in Tennessee. The two made it all the way to California without any issues until the vehicle was stopped for a routine inspection.
Hartline said that as the vehicle, loaded with strawberries, was stopped, he got into the driver's seat and drove the truck away. Minutes later the stolen 18-wheeler loaded crashed into "several vehicles" and Hartline eventually lost control of the truck.
Click here to see Hartline's mugshot.
The vehicle tipped over and spilled the strawberries all over the road. The truck blocked the entire highway, causing traffic and a mess that took seven hours to get rid of according to a report by CNN.
Once California police state arrived, Hartline claimed that "zombies were responsible" for the pileup.
The official police report claims that Hartline thought he was being chased down the highway and "several" were holding on to the side of the truck as he was trying to get away. This caused Hartline to swerve on the road, eventually tipping the vehicle over.
"He was arrested at the crash scene and appeared to be in an altered state, claiming he was being chased by zombies," said California Highway Patrol Officer Nathan Baer according to Mirror News. "Hartline swerved the truck side to side to shake the zombies off."
Police were able to confirm that Hartline was "under the influence of a hallucinogenic drug" but couldn't confirm what the substance was.
Hartline was taken to a hospital for treatment and later arrested and pleaded not guilty to six charges, including vehicle theft and hit-and-run.
Seven other people were injured as a result of the collisions, four of which were taken to a local hospital and one is still in serious condition according to The Press-Enterprise.
Hartline is currently being held on $500,000 bail at the Southwest Detention Center in Murrieta, California. He's scheduled to appear in court on April 17 according to the Examiner.
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