[chris]

Brandon Farmer, 24, of Washington Court House, was charged with disorderly conduct after climbing onto the back of a moving tractor-trailer on a dare in June 2010 and riding for miles on a rural southwest Ohio highway, according to wire service accounts of the incident.

Farmer called Fayette County's 911 dispatch center from the truck's rear ladder as it traveled U.S. Route 22 near Sabina, roughly 50 miles southwest of Columbus. He told the dispatcher it was a stupid idea and that he was "holding on for dear life."

Farmer said he had jumped onto the trailer as "kind of a joke" when the truck stopped at a red light, not expecting it to pull back onto the highway with him still hanging on. The driver told officers he had no idea a passenger had climbed aboard.

A Sabina police officer spotted Farmer clinging to the trailer's ladder and stopped the truck. Accounts of how far Farmer rode before the stop varied, from roughly 10 miles to nearly 17 miles of highway.

Fayette County Sheriff Vernon Stanforth said Farmer had been drinking at the time.

U.S. Route 22 near Sabina is a two-lane state highway running through a mostly rural stretch of Fayette and Clinton counties.