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Deputies arrest auto theft suspects after they nearly hit deputy’s cruiser

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David Gonzales, James Spinuzzi
David Gonzales (left) James Spinuzzi (right)

PUEBLO – Pueblo Police and Pueblo County Sheriff’s deputies arrested two men and recovered two stolen vehicles Monday night.

Authorities arrested 43-year-old James Spinuzzi and 33-year-old David Gonzales on suspicion of aggravated motor vehicle theft and other unrelated charges following a brief foot chase Monday evening.

A deputy said a maroon Nissan truck with two men inside almost sideswiped a deputy’s cruiser around 6:30 p.m. Monday near Northern and Euclid.

The deputy then followed the truck, which was reported stolen out of Pueblo West on Friday night, to a parking lot of a Family Dollar store off of Northern Ave.

The deputy watched one of the men get out of the truck and go into the store. The deputy said he saw the man in the passenger seat move into the driver’s seat and move the truck into a spot in the parking lot away from the deputy, where a silver SUV parked next to it shortly afterward.

The deputy then turned on his lights and drove toward the suspects, who ran away from the deputy. Following a chase, Spinuzzi was Tased and taken into custody. Officers and deputies searched the area and found Gonzales hiding in the 1500 block of Cypress Street, a couple streets to the east of where Spinuzzi was arrested off of Wabash.

Pueblo Police also said they had just responded to a call about the stolen SUV taken from a residence near the intersection of Jones Avenue and Claremont Avenue.

Both Spinuzzi and Gonzales were booked into the Pueblo County Jail.