Fresno police Chief Jerry Dyer's patrol car set on fire

Fresno police Chief Jerry Dyer's patrol car set on fire
By BoNhia Lee

The patrol car driven by Fresno police Chief Jerry Dyer was set on fire Sunday.

Vandals have spray-painted Fresno police patrol cars, slashed tires and set fire to some in neighborhood
police stations around Fresno, but never at the downtown headquarters until early Sunday afternoon.
Shortly before 12:30 p.m., someone walked into the police parking lot and set a patrol car on fire. The car is
driven by Chief Jerry Dyer during the week.

"We've had vandalism in police parking lots and we've had individuals in our parking lots writing down
license plate numbers, but I don't remember anyone setting anything on fire at headquarters," Dyer said.
"This is unique."

Officers in the downtown office put the fire out within minutes. The fire department also responded.
It is not known what caused the fire, but "something was thrown under the unit," said fire spokesman KrisTownsend.

The undercarriage of the car was damaged. It was processed for evidence and towed for observation.
Dyer does not think the vehicle was targeted because he drives it. Fresno patrol cars have fallen victim to
vandals over the years.

The tires on a number of cars in the northeast Fresno policing station were slashed in 2012 and others
were spray-painted.

Another incident involved fire set to patrol cars in the southwest Fresno police station. Dyer said Sunday's
fire is not related.

The fire department was battling a handful of small trash and car fires that occurred within 10 minutes of
each other in a six-block area of downtown Fresno on Sunday. Neither Dyer or the fire department knows if
the patrol car incident is connected to any of those fires.

Police detectives are reviewing video surveillance from the parking lot and other locations to see what
happened and if they can identify a suspect.

"I'm confident," Dyer said, "that based on our investigation, we'll be able to identify who did this."

The reporter can be reached at (559) 441-6495, blee [at] fresnobee.com or @bonhialee on Twitter.

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