Suspect Killed in Hesperia Pursuit in Stolen Vehicle Identified

Staff Writer

Thursday, April 13th, 2017

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HESPERIA – The Victorville man who lost his life and injured two others during a Hesperia pursuit in a stolen vehicle has been identified. Just before 10:00 a.m. on Monday, April 10, 2017, a Hesperia Station deputy attempted to make a traffic stop of a silver-blue Honda Civic that was speeding Westbound on Main Street.

The deputy activated the lights and sirens causing the suspect, later identified as 26-year-old James Long pulled into a Rite Aid parking lot near Main Street and Eleventh Avenue. The deputy believed that Long planned to yield, but he drove through the parking lot and onto Eleventh Avenue.

He fled north on Eleventh at a high rate of speed ignoring traffic signs and lights. As he approached Willow Street he went around another vehicle traveling in the same direction he was and subsequently crossed into the southbound lane, colliding with a black Volkswagen Jetta station wagon. Long was pronounced dead at the scene of the collision and both the driver and passenger of the Jetta were airlifted to trauma centers.

The driver of the Volkswagen, Ana Ramirez de Franco and her passenger, Jose Barba Franco were transported by air to local hospitals, and both remain hospitalized.

The sister of James Long has set up a Go Fund Me Account in order to provide a proper burial for Long. Long was the father of five young children and also leaves behind a grieving girlfriend, mother, siblings, and friends.