Car chase ends in officer-involved shooting in Fresno

By Elizabeth Warmerdam
on Wednesday, June 20th, 2012 at 12:48 pm

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FRESNO – A police pursuit had a deadly ending on Tuesday evening when Fresno police officers shot and killed a suspect.

The incident began around 5:45 p.m. when officers spotted the 27-year-old suspect driving a stolen two-door pickup near First Street and Belmont Avenue and began to follow him. The truck had been stolen on Friday from a home on East Huntington Boulevard.

After speeding through residential neighborhoods, the stolen truck was crashed near the corner of Clinton & Orchard

Police chased the suspect westbound on Highway 180 and then onto northbound Highway 41 before the suspect exited the highway and entered a neighborhood. At this point, officers backed off on their pursuit and kept following the suspect at a safe distance. According to police, the suspect was driving through the neighborhoods at speeds of 65 to 70 mph.

The pursuit ended when the suspect crashed near Clinton and Orchard avenues into the rear passenger side of a white sedan with two people inside. A 43-year-old woman inside the car was injured and taken to Community Regional Medical Center.

After crashing into the car, the suspect then crashed into a pole. Officers attempted to get the man out of the truck when he tried to drive away.

“The suspect was accelerating rapidly,” Police Chief Jerry Dyer said.

At some point, there was resistance between the suspect and one of the officers trying to remove him from the truck. Seeing this altercation, another officer shot the suspect in the upper torso, Dyer said.

Dyer said that the officer fired the shot at very close range, within four or five feet, so no innocent bystanders in the area were ever in danger of being hit. The suspect was given CPR by the officers and then rushed to Community Regional Medical Center where he later died.

Although police have not identified the suspect, they say he was a wanted parolee who has served time in prison for burglary. Officers found a stun gun in the truck and a methamphetamine pipe on the suspect.

This is Fresno’s sixth fatal officer-involved shooting this year.

KMPH26: Wanted Parolee Takes Police On Chase, Crashes, Then Is Shot Dead

Fresno Bee: Fresno police fatally shoot fleeing parolee

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