Naked man stops traffic along California freeway

A naked man found running along Interstate 8 Wednesday was taken into custody by police, a California Highway Patrol officer said.

A witness called authorities at 11:11 a.m. to report the nude man running in and out of traffic along westbound lanes near Severin Drive, CHP officer Tommy Doerr said. Officers arrived and pointed Tasers at him as a precaution before taking him into custody.

“[The naked man] said he wanted to go to heaven. He was a little unstable that’s why we took him to county mental health for evaluation,” Doerr said.

Police said the unidentified man was involved in a three-vehicle crash nearby and was trying to run away.

Under California law, the man, whose name was withheld, could be hospitalized involuntarily for up to 72 hours if deemed a danger to himself or others.

Traffic along I-8 was slow for about 20 minutes due to the incident, according to CHP.

The timing of the incident happened on one of the coldest days on record in San Diego.