A nude man who brought traffic to a standstill on PCH at approximately 3 p.m. on Tuesday, April 22, has yet to be identified.
In a bizarre incident, the man stopped on PCH, stripped off all his clothes, crawled through the sunroof of his red Tesla Model S, began doing some weird gyrations and then stood on top of the car in the buff.
The unusual sight caused delays on PCH. Local firefighters, including those from Station 69, responded to the scene. Capt. Oscar Scott told the Palisadian-Post the man had a possible “meltdown or psychiatric episode or was on a controlled substance.”
The man was taken to a local hospital and by 3:30 p.m. the disturbance was over. Traffic continued to remain snarled for hours afterward.
Photo: Lydia Simon
The Post sent out a Breaking News Email Alert and posted reports on Facebook and Twitter about the ordeal.
The news spread quickly and local, national and international news outlets – including KTLA, KCAL, The Hollywood Reporter, New York Daily News and the U.K. Daily Mail – picked up the story.
By the end of the weekend, nearly 25,000 people had viewed the Post’s Facebook post. Jason Latwhaw commented on the post: “Tesla is getting so creative with their advertising.”
Many others echoed the belief that this was some sort of publicity stunt engineered by Tesla Motors. In an exclusive statement to the Post, an executive at Tesla dispelled those rumors, saying, “Tesla Motors had absolutely nothing to do with it.”
Despite all of the attention, the identity of the naked man remains a mystery.
Attempts to identify the individual have been unsuccessful. LAPD West Traffic Bureau had no report on the incident and the Santa Monica Police Department did not respond to requests for information by the Post’s press deadline.
In an email about the incident to the Post, Senior Lead Officer Michael Moore wrote, “I believe he was taken to a hospital for a mental evaluation. If so, there is no police report.”
Firefighters at Station 69 were not able to obtain his identity because, as one firefighter said, “He didn’t have any ID on him.”
Anyone who knows the man’s identity is asked to contact the Post at MyPost@palipost.com.
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