Coalinga domestic violence suspect tracked by cameras, taken down by K9

Coalinga police used license plate recognition cameras to track down Tomas Hilario Negrete after a domestic violence call turned into a county jail case, with a juvenile girl running to officers for help on West Elm Avenue.

Officers were dispatched at about 11:54 a.m. Saturday to the 600 block of West Elm Avenue, where they found a girl running north and telling them she had fled to seek help. Investigators later identified the suspect as Tomas Hilario Negrete of Coalinga and determined he and his female partner share a child. By then, Negrete had already driven away.

Police issued a BOLO and entered Negrete’s license plate into the city’s license plate recognition system. At about 12:30 p.m., dispatchers alerted officers that the vehicle had been detected traveling west near Polk Street and Monterey Avenue. Officers then found it traveling south on Derrick Avenue and made a felony stop south of Derrick and Tractor avenues.

During that stop, officers said Negrete reached toward a bulge in the front pocket of his sweatshirt and turned away. Police then released K9 Boss, who brought Negrete down before officers took him into custody without further incident. Negrete was taken to Coalinga Regional Medical Center, treated, medically cleared, and booked into Fresno County Jail.

The charges listed in the case include domestic abuse, child endangerment, resisting or obstructing an officer, and driving under the influence of alcohol. The presence of a juvenile in the initial call gave the case added urgency, and the sequence from street fight to felony stop to jail booking showed how quickly a domestic violence report can escalate when children are involved.

The arrest also highlighted how Coalinga has been building out its surveillance tools. A City of Coalinga annual report says the police department’s surveillance grants required a public safety video surveillance policy. The Board of State and Community Corrections says the city received $1,745,015 to deploy video surveillance cameras, license plate capture cameras, new technologies and equipment, and outreach programs. Atlas of Surveillance says that award included 36 video surveillance cameras, nine of them with automated license plate recognition, while Rural VCRI says Coalinga police have 19 sworn officers serving more than 17,000 residents and are rolling out ALPR in phases.

For Fresno County, the case underscores both the speed and reach of modern policing in smaller cities. It also shows the policy pressure that comes with that reach: the same cameras that helped locate Negrete within minutes now sit at the center of how Coalinga manages domestic violence response, child protection, and public-safety oversight.