Dangerous or not?

The first time I've ever seen a Chameleon with my own eyes, was last year when I was driving and one about the length of my forearm was crossing the road. He was doing his little pimp walk and seemed to be almost the same color as the orange dirt of the road. I almost ran over him, but I managed to stop in time and was able to take him out of the road and release him in the bush. Since then, I've seen about 3 or 4 others alive, and a few dead. After telling some of my Zambian friends about my encounter with the Chameleon, they began to brush off their skin as though ants or something very undesirable was crawling all over them and they went on to tell me that these animals are extremely dangerous. I asked how they were dangerous, and some told me that if the tail of the creature wraps around your finger, you could be dismembered. Also, I was informed that when someone comes across this particular lizard that they either run away, or stone it to death. This didn't sit well with me, because these creatures only eat insects and are quit nice to see around. There certainly is a superstition about these creatures, frogs, and many other animals. The picture posted above is the smallest one that I've seen so far, and I will continue to catch and release these animals in the bush so that they have a stronger chance to survive.