Victim and witness make life tough for carjacking suspect in Fresno

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The drama started in the parking lot of the Jack in the Box restaurant at First and Tulare in Fresno. The suspect followed the victim to his SUV, but the victim was an off-duty correctional officer.

Cellphone video shows the officer turned the tables, and with his gun drawn had the suspect on the ground. Robert Lewis took the video and describes what happened. He said, "The guy had his gun drawn on him, and he was calling for backup I guess on his phone, and he let the guy get up, no handcuffs or anything, so as soon as he got up he ran to his vehicle, got in."

Despite having a gun pointed at him, the suspect grabbed the keys off the ground and took off in the correctional officer's vehicle. The officer does not shoot, but attempts to hang on and is dragged a short distance before the SUV speeds off.

But a witness to all this, Arnulfo Martinez, went into action. He jumped into his gray Dodge Charger and chased the suspect for several blocks, then forced him to stop, without running into him. "Nah," Martinez said. "I just pulled up and blocked him out. Just make sure he wasn't gonna go nowhere."

After it was over, the correctional officer didn't want to talk to us, but he thanked Martinez for his help. Police credit the victim for using restraint and not shooting the suspect, who is identified as Adrian Cerkuria of Fresno. He is now in police custody.

Fresno Police Lt. Joe Gomez gave Martinez credit for taking action. He said, "The great job by the citizen who witnessed that, went out of his way to stop this guy and helped us get him into custody."

Martinez was just glad to help. Asked if it was exciting, he told Action News, "It was alright. It was alright."