California man arrested after bizarre encounter with wine tanker truck

A tanker truck driver hauling red wine had an unusual encounter with a man who was apparently desperate for a drink in Turlock, California, on Tuesday.

The incident began around noon on May 5 when a Cherokee Freight Lines tanker driver hauling bulk wine northbound on Highway 99 noticed a person in another vehicle attempting to flag him down, according to local news outlet The Turlock Journal.

Thinking that there might be something wrong with his truck, the tanker driver pulled over on the right shoulder.

The man who flagged him down — later identified as Gabriel Moreno, 39 — pulled over as well.

The truck driver said that he saw Moreno run to the area between his truck and tanker and, unnerved by the man’s behavior, attempted to pull back onto Highway 99.

However, his gauges indicated that he was losing fluids from his tanker and he stopped again.

The tanker driver says that when he pulled over for the second time, he discovered Moreno under the tanker, now wearing only underwear, and gulping down as much red wine as possible from a valve.

Moreno was arrested on suspicion of vandalism and driving on a suspended license, the outlet reports. Moreno was booked into the Stanislaus County Jail.

About 1000 gallons of red wine were reportedly lost during the unusual incident.