I've heard helleri is a little more reactive than oreganus. Never heard of them chasing anyone, but a year ago, I'd have said NO snake would chase a human. Then this summer, my rescue partner approached a large gopher snake to move him off a road, and he threw himself at her so hard that he landed on his back. She took a step back to let him calm down, and he just kept throwing himself at her. Eventually, she just gave up and picked him up. He bit her five or six times on the way to being released. It was such bizarre behavior. Our only theory was that the snake had been grabbed and dropped by a predator or straddled by a vehicle almost immediately before we approached him.
I've yet to encounter an aggressive wild gopher snake. I mostly just like to watch them from a distance, but on the occasion that I have to move them out of harm's way, I just go pick them up and handle them like I would any pet snake. They don't even strike at me. I think I'd be dumbfounded if I saw one doing what you saw.