A West Virginia hitchhiker working on a memoir called “Kindness in America” shot himself in the arm and made up a story about a drive-by shooting for publicity, police say.

Ray Dolin, 39, made headlines last week when he said a random driver shot him while he was hitchhiking in rural Montana working on his book about kindness.

He claimed the driver of a maroon pickup pulled up and shot him in the upper arm for no apparent reason. Cops later arrested Lloyd Christopher Danielson III, 52, and charged him with felony assault.

That charge was dropped after Dolin, recovering in a hospital in Miles City, Mont., admitted to police he’d shot himself and made up the whole story for publicity, the Valley County Sheriff’s Department told the Missoulian.

Sheriff Glen Meier told the newspaper the case smelled fishy from the moment he arrested Danielson.

“I had the worst feeling he was telling me the absolute truth,” Meier said. “I kept telling him that we are seekers of the truth and we are going to work very hard to find out the truth of this incident.

“It was a great moment when I sent someone up to the jail to tell him he had nothing to do with it.”

Dolin hasn’t been charged, but police say they’ve recovered the gun he allegedly used in the PR stunt.