Police in Martinez apprehended an unlikely jaywalking suspect on Monday.

A runaway bearded dragon was secured inside a bucket after a chase across a parking lot.

"It tried to get away from us," says Corporal Dustin Mayberry who caught the lizard with the help of an assistant.

Mayberry assumes the exotic reptile is a lost pet.

He says that while the department tries to find its owner, a city corporation yard worker has offered to keep it at home—even though the lizard tried to bite him.

"He says he needs some time to get to know it," Mayberry adds.

Bearded dragons are indigenous to Australia. They can eject a venom in times of distress but it's mostly harmless to humans.