A Victorville man driving a stolen tractor-trailer led Sheriff’s deputies and CHP officers on a pursuit for more than three hours Tuesday afternoon, including through Morongo Valley and Yucca Valley. According to the trucking company, ACT enviro, the truck had been parked overnight in Barstow on its way to Nevada with a load of medical hazardous waste, when it was stolen about 6 a.m. Tuesday morning. The company said the truck’s GPS tracking device had been disabled, but the company located it about 8:45 a.m. using a secondary, built-in tracking device and notified the Sheriff’s Department. Deputies located the stolen truck about 10:30 a.m. in Apple Valley and attempted a traffic stop. The driver, James Edgley, 48, refused to stop, and drove—at times of speeds up to 80 miles per hour—southbound on Interstate 15 to eastbound 60 to eastbound 10 and then north onto Highway 62, followed by up to a dozen CHP and Sheriff patrol cars and many TV helicopters. As Edgley entered the western end of Yucca Valley, he made a U-turn at Elk Trail and retraced his route onto westbound Interstate 10. The CHP said that due to the size of the truck, they could not use spike strips to stop it. CHP officers said they were on the phone with the driver during the pursuit who told them he did not want to go back to jail. About 1:40 p.m., Edgley pulled into the rest stop west of Whitewater and surrendered peacefully to authorities. James Edgley was arrested on suspicion of possession of a stolen vehicle and felony evading, and booked into the West Valley Detention Center, with his bail set at $100,000.
