Reading man falls from roof of his moving minivan, runs naked along bypass
By Darrin Youker
Reading Eagle
A Reading man climbed atop a moving minivan Friday on the West Shore Bypass, stood on the roof and rode the vehicle until it crashed and catapulted him into the woods, West Reading police reported. Witnesses told police that the man then climbed up an embankment, stripped naked and ran several hundred yards down the busy highway bleeding from a foot-long gash in his side.
"I’ve never seen anything like this in 22 years," West Reading police Detective Joseph M. Brown said of the 3 p.m. incident. "It is not a common call we get as police."
Police responding to calls from frantic motorists used three separate jolts from a Taser and pepper spray to subdue the nude man. The Taser had no effect, and police eventually tackled the 38-year-old from Reading, Brown said. He was taken to Reading Hospital, police said. The hospital listed him in critical condition Friday night.
The Reading Eagle is withholding the man’s name because he has not been charged. Brown said the investigation continues and police are awaiting the results of toxicology tests.
The bizarre scene unfolded as witnesses reported seeing a minivan going about 55 mph and swerving in the westbound lanes of the bypass near the Penn Avenue interchange. A witness, Les Miller of West Lawn, was driving west when he saw the minivan crash into the guide rail between Penn Avenue and North Wyomissing Boulevard. Miller said he saw clothes on the highway shoulder and a naked man with a long cut on his torso running toward him. "He was waving his arms in the air like he was lost or he was on something," Miller said. "It wasn’t like a panicked look on his face; he was just in a daze."
Miller saw police approaching, so he didn’t stop. "You want to help other human beings out if they’re injured, but part of me, I didn’t know what kind of mental state this person was in," he said. Miller snapped a photo with his cell phone camera as he drove past. "I’m still in disbelief that I’ve seen something like this," he said.
West Reading police gave the following account:
Witnesses driving on the West Shore Bypass, or Route 422, saw the driver of the minivan climb out the driver’s side window and onto the roof. The vehicle swerved and crashed into a concrete median.
The impact sent the vehicle back across the westbound lanes, and the man was thrown down a wooded embankment. Witnesses told police they thought the victim had been killed.
"They were shocked when he got back onto the road," Brown said, adding that the man had a foot-long gash in one side and his internal organs were exposed.
Brown said it was fortunate that no one else was injured, considering that the driverless minivan swerved across a lane of traffic.
"Drivers were alert enough to stay back," he said.
Traffic on the West Shore Bypass was backed up for more than an hour.
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Originally Posted by Harlan Huckleby
