A woman on State Route 125 called deputies after a stranger standing in the roadway tried to get into her car and told her he had just been released from jail and needed a ride.
She said no.
Then she went inside her home while the man remained in the road.
Scioto County sheriff’s deputies headed toward the area, with one unit responding priority because of the long distance involved.
When deputies finally caught up with the man, they learned he had a warrant through Brown County.
But the warrant was outside Brown County’s pickup radius, so deputies did not take him into custody on it.
Instead, they warned him to stay out of the roadway.
Then he started walking back toward Brown County.
A Long Walk Ahead
From the area where deputies encountered him to the Brown County line is roughly 32 to 33 miles along State Route 125.
That means the man who had been trying to get a ride from a stranger was now facing a very long trip on foot.
The available report does not say whether he eventually found another ride.
But for the woman who called deputies, the unsettling part came first:
A man she did not know was standing in the road, tried to get into her vehicle, and said he had just been released from jail.
She did exactly what many people would hope they’d do in that situation — refused the ride, got somewhere safe, and called police.
