Wine not? Man jumps on moving wine tanker for a drink

Thirsty. Photo / Supplied

A US man has been arrested after a bizarre incident that saw him jump aboard a moving wine tanker to drink directly from the tank, wearing only his underwear.

Last Tuesday, 39-year-old Gabriel Moreno was driving near the California city of Modesto when he pulled alongside a truck hauling a tanker of red wine.

Police say he flashed his lights to get the driver's attention, pulling in front of the cab as both vehicles stopped by the side of the road.

Then it got weird.

Jumping from his vehicle wearing only his underwear, Moreno ran to the back of the trailer.

"That's when the driver realized, 'This isn't right'," California Highway Patrol officer Thomas Olsen told the Modesto Bee.

The truck's cameras captured Moreno climbing aboard. Photo / Supplied

The truck got on the move again but not before Moreno climbed a ladder out of the driver's sight and hopped aboard for a hoon on the massive metal goon.

To quench what must have been a serious thirst, Moreno managed to unscrew the valve on the tank and began drinking some of the red wine that gushed out, as the truck sped down the road at high speed.

A gauge in the cab then showed the driver that the levels of wine were plunging, prompting him to pull over and investigate.

Once the truck stopped, Moreno "jumped down and placed himself beneath the belly of the truck and was just indulging in the wine", Olsen said. "He was lying on the ground and doing snow angels, basically, as the wine was pouring down on him."

The truck company later said that 3785 litres of red wine was lost, some of it in and on Moreno who fled the scene covered in it, prompting reports of a blood-soaked man to the police.

When he was arrested police said Moreno was co-operative and he was placed in custody on charges of felony vandalism and misdemeanour driving on a suspended license.

But he wasn't done.

Waking up in jail the next morning, Moreno was quickly released as part of California's current coronavirus restrictions.

Gabriel Moreno was arrested after his escapade. Photo / Supplied

That early release didn't sit well with Moreno, as it meant he missed out on his jail-issue sandwich.

Potentially still a bit dusty, Moreno was arrested again shortly after her release for trying to steal a landscaping truck from a local car park.

Police said that Moreno admitted the attempted theft was "a way of getting a return visit to the jail, where he hoped to finally enjoy his sandwich".

However, California's current coronavirus bail laws mean that they couldn't hold him and Moreno was released again.