Cops: Collegian Dove Naked Into Garbage Truck

JUNE 6--A naked collegian apparently high on PCP jumped into the hopper of a garbage truck and fought with cops trying to extract him, according to a police report.

Benjamin Abele, a 22-year-old University of Georgia senior, was arrested last Sunday morning after police had to tase him twice during a scuffle. When Abele was finally detained, he was drenched in a slippery, malodorous liquid that had pooled inside the truck’s hopper.

As detailed in an Athens-Clarke County Police Department report, an officer spotted Abele running naked on a downtown Athens street around 2:30 AM. The student then dove into the back of a city sanitation truck.

Upon reaching the truck, the cop spotted Abele “laying in the contents of the hopper which consisted of bags of garbage and about six inches deep of dirty foul liquid seeping from the bags.”

Abele, pictured above, appeared unconcerned that he was basting in the vile juice, cops noted. The student had a “dazed look on his face and his eyes were completely dilated,” which, an investigator “immediately recognized...as a possible manifestation of PCP impairment.”

Officers subsequently struggled with the slick student, who sought to burrow into the hopper. Police--worried that Abele could get lodged in a space that they could not reach--succeeded in placing a handcuff on one of his wrists and began to yank him from the hopper.

When Abele punched and kicked officers, a cop tased the collegian to “little effect.” Abele was then pulled from the garbage truck and pinned to the ground by four officers. Since the 5' 11", 160-pound Abele was still “thrashing” and “fighting with abnormal strength,” he was tased a second time.

Abele was later transferred to an Athens hospital for treatment.

Abele was charged Friday with obstruction of a law enforcement officer, a felony, and public indecency, a misdemeanor. He was freed from custody after posting $16,000 bond.

On his LinkedIn page, Abele describes himself as a "persistent entrepreneur who embraces each failure as a valuable gain of wisdom." In March, Abele and two fellow students (seen below) were awarded $10,000 in the University of Georgia’s Next Top Entrepreneur competition. The trio was honored for a business plan pitching an e-commerce operation that would allow consumers to purchase art online. (2 pages)