There's a reason Lindsay Lohan has to stay out all night partying: When she leaves she's followed and harassed by paparazzi, and sometimes they even try to run her car off the road like she's Marissa Cooper or something. It's just safer inside Hyde.

TMZ reports:

At 6:45 am, a TMZ spy spotted Lindsay at Olive and Sunset in Hollywood, near a dog park. Lindsay was sitting in her parked black Cadillac Escalade and our spy, who was walking his dog, could see Lohan through the tinted windows, "freaking out" and talking on her phone.

Then, Lohan called our spy over and told him that two men in a silver Toyota 4Runner -- parked behind her -- had been following her for the last two hours, trying to "hit" her vehicle. Our spy reports that "she seemed out of it," that it appeared she'd been out all night, and that she'd clearly been crying, with mascara running down her face. "I've called the cops," said Lindsay of her alleged pursuers. "But the cops can't catch them."

What Lindsay didn't even realize in her reduced state was that the two men in the Toyota were actually paparazzi. Our spy saw them snapping away. And, he says, as their vehicle started to creep up on Lindsay's Escalade, she shifted into drive, hit the gas and took off. The paparazzi followed her.

At first we reacted in much the same way that our mom did when we were convinced that the marshmallows in our Lucky Charms were actually little tiny microphones that the government used to listen to those uppity bacteria in our stomach: We thought she was just being paranoid. But then we mulled it over a little. Lindz was leaving whatever club/party/penis was entertaining her for the evening and all she wanted was to get to Denny's for some moons over my hammy when a menacing vehicle started following her and she couldn't ditch it. Then she sought help from a passing stranger walking their dog, and that person turned TMZ spy. We wouldn't be surprised if when the police did show up one was an X17 photographer and his partner was Paris "sexy cop" Hilton.

Play your own game of Lindsay stalker at MrSkin.com.