Knoxville woman in custody for abandoning burning car while naked, police say

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - A Knoxville woman is in custody after abandoning a burning vehicle, damaging a guardrail, stripping to only a mask, tail and underwear and assaulting officers, a report from the Knoxville Police Department said.

According to the report, officers were dispatched to a reported wreck at Edington Road near Maryville Pike. While on the scene, officers found an abandoned Pontiac Grand Prix at the intersection of Sims Road and Lester Road that was still in motion. The car moved off the road and hit a guardrail, and a witness had to put out a fire located on the car’s door, the report said.

Officers ran the registration of the vehicle and found that it belonged to Marisa Ferrante, 23. Later on Monday, officers were dispatched to Sims Road due to a reported naked woman wearing a mask ringing doorbells.

Officers reportedly then located a woman walking down Edington Road near Maryville Pike wearing only a mask, underwear and tail stopping traffic at the intersection. Officers tried to approach the woman, identified as Ferrante, but she ran on foot away from the officers, jumping a fence at a nearby house.

Officers followed Ferrante, who then pretended to be defecating near a dog enclosure while talking to the dog in the enclosure, the report said. Ferrante then began eating grass from the lawn, according to the report.

Officers managed to arrest Ferrante while she attempted to kick, punch and bite them, the report said. While in custody, Ferrante reportedly told officers that she was “called to abandon her car and go into the woods naked.”

Ferrante was charged with indecent exposure, evading arrest, criminal trespass, resisting arrest, assault on a first responder, disorderly conduct, obstructing a highway, reckless endangerment, duty upon striking fixtures upon a highway and not providing an immediate notice of an accident.