Naked man seen running around suburbs yelling 'I'm Free'

A naked man has been spotted running around the Auckland suburb of Browns Bay yelling 'I'm free, I'm alive, I am the God'.

The naked runner was seen by several residents last night at Browns Bay beach who said he made strange gestures toward them.

"This man looks like the same man that was one the beach this afternoon doing strange movement and gestures at me," one person wrote on the Browns Bay Facebook group.

Another said: "Yes, I saw him this evening doing strange exercises, definitely him."

One Browns Bay resident told the Herald that he and his friend were out having dinner at Velvet Gypsy at around 8pm when they saw the naked man running from Browns Bay beach.

They decided to follow him in his car as they found the incident "strange".

"He ran through Browns Bay around everywhere ... it was like he was running a quarter-marathon," the resident said.

"He shouted 'I'm free, I'm alive, I am the God'."

They also saw him coming in and out of bushes.

At one point the resident took a photo of the naked man. The runner noticed and began moving towards them so they drove away.

The onlooker called police 30 minutes later and officers took the runner away.

Police confirmed to the Herald that a man had been spoken to.

The resident was not impressed with the naked runner's behaviour.

"There were a lot of families out last night, a lot of kids would have got a bit of a fright," he said.

"I thought it was quite rude and a bit disrespectful towards other people in the community."

This article was originally published at nzherald.co.nz and is reproduced here with permission