SOUTHLAND : 1 More Story From the Naked City

A naked motorist who repeatedly flashed his middle finger at two highway patrolmen chasing his speeding pickup truck was arrested after a five-minute chase today in Long Beach.

Officers Rick Geller and Skip Conway had stopped a motorcyclist for speeding and were at the side of the southbound San Diego Freeway at Palo Verde Avenue when the pickup truck pulled to a stop in front of them and a 38-year-old Torrance man got out, Highway Patrol spokesman Lyle Whitten said. “To their surprise, the truck driver didn’t have a stitch on,” Whitten said. “He approached the officers, beckoned to them, displayed his middle finger, got back in the truck and drove away.”

After his arrest, the man was taken into custody and transported to Los Angeles-County-Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, where he was being held for a 72-hour mental evaluation, Whitten said. Officers withheld the man’s name.