Boy, 12, arrested after dangerous pursuit that nearly injures Fresno Sheriff’s sergeant

A 12-year-old boy faces multiple felony charges, including assault with a deadly weapon, after he led Fresno County Sheriff’s deputies in a pursuit on Monday and nearly injured a sergeant during the incident.

Deputies learned after the hour-long chase that the boy intended to drive his family’s fan from Hanford to Sacramento, where he used to live.

Fresno County Sheriff’s spokesman Tony Botti said that a deputy patrolling near Riverdale on Monday morning encountered the van about 9:30 a.m. after a resident reported the boy had struck a roadside advertisement with the vehicle and sped off.

The deputy caught up to the van, but the boy fled at speeds above 70 mph.

At about 10:30 a.m. the youth swerved at a sergeant who was trying to put down spike strips to stop the van, Botti said.

After a narrow miss of the sergeant, the pursuit ended when the van rolled over another spike strip and stopped near Santa Fe County Road and American Avenue, between Mendota and Tranquillity.

The boy was booked into the Fresno County Juvenile Justice facility.

This story was originally published August 15, 2022 at 7:51 PM.