A bizarre pursuit through Bakersfield Friday morning came to a surprising end in more ways than one. Turns out the driver was wearing nothing more than his birthday suit.
Investigators say the driver of a sedan tried to get out of a traffic ticket by speeding away from the scene.
"The driver of this vehicle, Dennis Sherrell, refused to yield to this officer," said Lt. Laura Lopez, Kern County Sheriff's Department.
The driver ran red lights for much of the trip, that took him all over Bakersfield. His trip included several trips down Rosedale Highway, on dirt roads in oil fields, under the Mohawk Street bridge, on Calloway, Brimhall and Coffee Roads... before finally hitting Truxtun Avenue.
The driver hit several spike strips, slowing down his car, but not stopping it.
"That did not have an effect on his ability to turn or maneuver away from us," said Lopez.
But, then the chase took a strange turn. As he got closer to our news camera on Truxtun, Sherrell was casually smoking while apparently shirtless. We later learned he was actually naked.
Sherrell proceeded to make an illegal u-turn, still plodding along. As he got further down the road, our camera crew prepared to follow him, but at that moment we heard a splash.
Upon arriving at the edge of Truxtun Lake, we saw the sedan completely submerged, except for the roof and open trunk. Glass bottles were floating in the lake.
And, Sherrell was in the back of a patrol car, a little wet.
"He was able to swim out on his own accord and we affected the arrest," said Lopez.
An interesting day already for officers on scene, and it was barely eight in the morning.
"Officially I think this is my first naked pursuit," laughed Lopez.
Sherrell went to Kern Medical Center for a medical evaluation.
He was later released and booked on several charges including reckless driving and resisting arrest.
