A 23-year-old Manteca man is suspected of terrorizing women motorists Monday morning as he attempted to get a ride.

Manteca Police said Jimmy Bob Brown had run from his home located near Louise and Airport Way at about 8 a.m. reportedly high on methamphetamine with two cousins and a brother chasing him to a point between Lathrop and Lovelace roads.

Officers were called to the location with a report that a man had fallen out of the back of a pickup truck into the roadway.  He had actually fallen from one of the pickup trucks he had allegedly attempted to commandeer.  After jumping in the back of the vehicle, the driver braked and Jimmy Bob was tossed out on the ground, police said.

He had also attempted to break out a rear window in another truck, officers said, but it wouldn’t break.

Motorists found it difficult to process exactly what was happening with him running from the side of the roadway in front of vehicles as his family members were attempting to corral him into their pickup truck, officers said.

The women drivers had no idea what was happening as it might have appeared to them that it was a kidnapping in progress, police noted.

Police said he threw himself onto the hood of a San Joaquin Mosquito Abatement utility truck when the driver stopped to avoid hitting him – the driver was again a woman.  He did not attempt to stop men drivers, according to police.   

Officers Steve Beermann, Victor Vincent and Patrick Danipour arrived on the scene next to an almond orchard and wrestled the man to the ground after he had already been wrestling with a cousin.  Beermann said that Brown spit on two of the officers causing the sergeant to place a spit hood over his head as he continued to attempt to fight them while in handcuffs.

The officer said that in addition to appearing to be overdosed on meth, he was paranoid that he was dying.  Beermann said he was aware that such a reaction to a meth overdose could be a precursor to death which caused him to call an ambulance as a precaution and have the man transported to county hospital in French Camp.  He said he didn’t want to take a chance that he could die in the city jail.

Officer Beermann followed the ambulance to the hospital in his patrol car saying there was no indication that Brown would be released soon.  He explained that the medication used to neutralize the overdose would take time to work and that hospital staffers would not release him until he could walk on his own.

The patrolman advised motorists who see that someone is trying to stop their vehicle on the roadway to drive away to a safe area and call police.  He added that there have been too many similar instances in the recent past that put women especially in jeopardy. Don’t stop was his suggestion.

Brown was charged with being under the influence of a controlled substance and obstructing police in their duties in resisting arrest.