A routine traffic stop led to a pursuit that ended in the hills in north Joshua Tree Thursday afternoon. About 3:18, Sheriff’s deputies Bruce Southworth and Erikson saw an older model Jeep Cherokee with an expired registration at the Circle K gas station in Joshua Tree. When the deputies attempted to stop the Jeep, the driver, identified as David Daniels, 37, of Yucca Valley fled. Daniels led nearly every Sheriff’s deputy in the Morongo Basin north on Sunburst Avenue, and then turned west into the Bartlett Mountains. Daniels abandoned his vehicle in the area of Bourbon Street and Sunny Vista Road and fled on foot. Deputies pursued Daniels on foot along the ridgeline, and called for assistance from the Sheriff’s helicopter, who lowered two deputies near Daniels and arrested him about 4 p.m. David Daniels, who had a warrant for his arrest for violating the terms of his probation, was arrested for investigation of felony evading, booked at the Morongo Basin Jail, with his bail set at $100,000.
