Yes but I don't think it's all that mysterious. I think all that's happening is something like this. He tries to back off, but due to some unusual configuration the slope nudges him back down again, so he tries to back off but the slope nudges him back down again, and so on. Of course, he doesn't really 'try' anything; it's just the mindless execution of the programming. There's no higher function watching out for such looping, so he just keeps on doing it until new circumstances (panic) make the programming take a different path.

By the way, I don't think the super-smack phenomenon is due to slopes. I have other examples where there's no slope, one of which was shown in BCM29 (in the 4:01 clip). However, a slope may cause an upward deflection once the subject is moving (which could very well be the case with the bridge Elite you mentioned), and thus cause a longer trajectory.