Man in stolen car evades Fresno police, sheriff’s helicopter for hours before arrest

A man in a stolen Ford was arrested by police after he was tracked around Fresno for several hours Thursday by police and sheriff’s helicopters.

Andres Zuniga, 34, who Fresno police auto theft Sgt. Doug Goertzen said is familiar to his team, has been out of jail since he was released on the state’s $0 bail policy instituted because of the coronavirus.

Goertzen said that about 10 a.m., detectives spotted the stolen car near West Olive and North Crystal avenues.

They tried to pull over the Ford once it began moving, but broke off pursuit for public safety in Pinedale. A police helicopter then began tracking the suspect until the aircraft ran low on fuel and a sheriff’s copter took over while the first aircraft landed to gas up.

The suspect reached speeds above 60 mph and drove on the wrong side of roadways several times before he slowed near East Chestnut and South Peach avenues, possibly because he was low on fuel, about 1 p.m. A police sergeant tapped the Ford’s bumper, causing it to spin out, and Zuniga was taken into custody.

Fresno County Sheriff’s spokesman Tony Botti said Zuniga was freed from jail on April 9 because of the state’s $0 bail guidelines for those offenders deemed non-violent. Previously, he had been held on a bail of $146,000. Before the COVID-19 emergency, the Fresno Police Department had paid the county to reserve jail space for repeat auto theft suspects.

Botti said since April 9, there have been 711 $0 bail releases from the Fresno jail, and a total of 87 rebookings, some involving the same inmate multiple times.,

This story was originally published May 14, 2020 at 3:24 PM.