Man Who Fled Zombies In Big Rig Highway Theft Pleads Guilty [Video]

So, that man who fled zombies by stealing a strawberry truck — zombies hate strawberries, don’t ya know — accepted a plea deal Monday from the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office in California. Jerimiah Clyde Hartline, 29, first soared to internet fame in April by getting busted in the stolen truck that he swerved all over Interstate 15, causing multiple crashes that hurt at least six people, three of them seriously.

Hartline reportedly hid in the truck in Tennessee and took a ride cross-country to California with the strawberries. When the 18-wheeler stopped at a checkpoint outside Temucula, where the driver had stepped out to sign some paperwork, Hartline took the wheel.

To save fuel, big rig drivers often leave their motors running during brief stops — which makes theft of the large vehicles a little bit too convenient if you happen to be on the run from the zombie apocalypse.

Unfortunately, our zombie-fearing thief didn’t seem to know how to drive the heavily loaded truck, and he ended up jackknifing and blocking all four traffic lanes. The California Highway Patrol (CHP) noted that Hartline claimed that he was performing evasive maneuvers to escape the zombies.

Be that as it may, he faced multiple theft, assault with a deadly weapon (the strawberry truck), and hit and run charges as a result of the zombie-fleeing spree. On Monday, he agreed to a plea deal where Riverside County would dismiss four other charges, including reckless driving.

He’ll plead guilty to three counts of causing great bodily injury. He faced a possible sentence of over 12 years without the deal. With it, he’ll serve five years or less.

A judge will hand down the sentence on June 24. At that time, we’ll be told the ultimate sentence for the man who fled zombies.

[zombie photo by Andreas Gradin via Shutterstock]