After responding to several calls about illegal street racing and dangerous driving, a police officer’s patrol car was attacked by an angry mob of street racers who began smashing and kicking his car while he was sitting inside the vehicle.
California police arrested three men involved in the attack. Video of the incident was uploaded and shared on the internet. On Friday, the arrests were announced after officials released dash-cam footage from the California Highway Patrol Car.
There were other people that were chanting, yelling, ‘F the police, we run the streets,'” Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer told ABC 30.
The incident happened the afternoon of Sept. 25 and police responded to reports of a large crowd holding up traffic just a few miles outside downtown Fresno.
A California Highway Patrol officer got out of his car to make a traffic stop on one of the reckless drivers, the police department said. The angry mob yelled at the driver to get away and he did and sped off. The officer got back into his car to chase him, but the angry mob quickly surrounded the vehicle and began hitting and kicking it. The officer was able to finally speed off and get away from the mob.
Capt. Craig Kunzler said the officer is “doing fine” and he is back to work. Those that attacked the vehicle caused more than $12,000 in damages. The suspects face charges of felony vandalism and inciting a riot.
Federico Gonzalez, Gabriel DeAnda and Milton Rodriguez were arrested after dash-cam footage and fingerprints found on the patrol car identified the suspects. One of the suspects admitted to investigators that he attacked the patrol car because he was upset that California Highway Patrol recently towed his vehicle.
Police are looking for a fourth suspect, 19-year old Guadalupe Gonzales and are attempting to identify five other people involved in the incident, including the person who smashed two of the vehicles windows.
The Fresno Bee reported that Chief Dyer said that Gonzalez is a known Bulldog gang associate.
“This kind of unruly behavior, which borders on animal, has to be addressed in our society or we will have a lawless society,” Dyer said at a news conference on Friday.
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