ROANOKE (WSLS 10) - A man is recovering in Carilion Hospital after causing a stir Tuesday afternoon.
He was seen running naked at the intersection of Orange Avenue and Hollins Road, holding up traffic there just before 5 p.m.
That man is still being looked at by doctors at Carilion, but police say it is likely he was either on drugs or suffering from mental illness.
They caught him at the Exxon gas station off of Orange Avenue, where one employee got quite the surprise.
"I was waiting on a customer and I looked up and right behind her stood a naked man, and I said oh my god it's a naked man, and she forgot to get her gas, she drove off," said Exxon employee Helen Daniel.
Helen Daniel says she was initially surprised when what she describes as a lightly skinned black adult man approached her kiosk.
She says he then ran through traffic on Orange Avenue, and that's when she called police, but when officers arrived, she says they couldn't find him.
"He had hid in the mulch area, and so after they left, within about 15 minutes, here he comes streaking again, so I had to call the cops again saying the naked jaybird is back," said Daniel.
Police did come back and were finally able to put the man into custody.
He is being reviewed in the hospital for 48 hours, and police say he has two outstanding charges against him.
Those charges are for assault and battery and failure to appear in court.
Police have not released the man's identity, but say they will do so as soon as they serve him with those warrants.