WKRN News 2

Accused thief apologizes to trucker for stealing big rig from crash scene

MAURY COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — “I apologize.” Those are the words of a man who confessed to stealing a cement truck in Spring Hill and leading police on a wild chase along I-65 earlier this month.

From the Maury County Jail, Jamie Edmondson told News 2’s Andy Cordan that he stole the big rig during the early morning hours on Sept. 10 because he had been the victim of a road rage incident and he was scared that the people in the other vehicle were going to harm him.

Edmondson said he was returning from his grandmother’s funeral, he had lost his phone, and he was lost.

“I wrecked my truck, I was coming off some stuff, and not right in my mind and fearing for my life, and I got to the 18-wheeler, so I took off and went down road till I stopped,” Edmondson said.

“Another car behind me wrecks me and takes me out. I get out, run to the woods, and the 18 wheeler stops. I think they are trying to get me, I get in the 18 wheeler, drive till the police get there,” the Mississippi man continued. “I was fearing for my life, pressed every button in there till I got it going.”

According to authorities, there is no evidence to support Edmondson’s assertion of a road rage incident.

When asked what he was thinking, Edmonson said he was waiting for the police to get behind him. News 2 also asked if Edmondson was under the influence of drugs, but he denied it, adding that he was just scared.

“I can take a lie detector test. I have been clean for two years, I am not a drug user. I used to be and I went to prison in Alabama for using drugs. I’ve been clean two years. I was coming back through, lost my phone, got lost trying to get from Birmingham to Memphis,” Edmondson explained. “I was passing through and someone had a bad case of road rage against me and it scared me. I wrecked, jumped out, hit the woods. I didn’t know if they had a gun, I did not have gun, and the 18-wheeler shows up and I went to passenger side of the truck, nobody in it, so I go around and get in the driver’s seat and take off till cops get behind me. That’s the honest truth.”

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According to the Alabama-based trucker whose big rig was stolen — who only wants to be known as Lucas — he came upon headlights in the middle of the median and he stopped to help, thinking someone was seriously hurt.

“I was driving northbound on I-65, and the cops usually sit in the median and face north and south. And I am getting close to a vehicle and those headlights were west and I thought, ‘that’s weird, why are cops’ lights heading west?’ So as I get closer, I see it’s a pickup on its side and I see it on its side and it’s still running, but its high lights are on, and you know what, that just happened, and I said, ‘that is recent,’ so I pull over to the side thinking maybe someone is injured. I get out of the truck and I run to it, try to save someone or help someone, and I knock on the roof and nobody answers and I climbed on top and I saw bullets, a bunch of bullets inside the truck. And the cops show up and other truckers, and with all the commotion, I am not paying attention, and I’m talking to the cops and they ask, ‘were you involved?’ And I say I was first to arrive and I was just checking to see if anyone is injured, and I ask ‘do you need me?’ And they say no I can go, and then I notice my truck was gone. First thing was I thought, ‘did I forget to set my brakes and it rolled out?’ And I told the cops, ‘I have a firearm in the vehicle, I have a permit in Alabama and the gun is loaded, and make sure your partners are warned.'”

— Lucas

“In my head, right away was, whoever’s driving it might not know how to drive it and kill somebody and I’ll have to live with it for the rest of my life,” Lucas added.

Minutes later, members of the Brentwood Police Department and the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office pulled Edmondson over north of Concord Road. The 32-year-old then jumped out of the truck while it was still moving.

When deputies asked why he stole the truck, Edmondson didn’t mention road rage to them. However, Edmondson could be heard saying, “it was stupid.”

At the jail afterward, on body cam, Edmondson did not mention road rage or fear, but he did joke about stealing the truck.

“I didn’t take it. I just borrowed it for a minute, they got it back,” Edmondson said. “Hey, that thing ran good, too. It had one of those automatic shifters in it. When I got that brake off, we was rolling.

Nearly three weeks after the incident, Edmondson shared a message for the truck driver: “I would ask him to forgive me, It wasn’t the way that it seemed. I was in fear for my life.”

Meanwhile, Lucas had this to say to the alleged truck thief: “Clean up his act, man. Clean up before you hurt somebody, ruin somebody’s or some family’s life. We live in a beautiful country, man. Appreciate it.”

The trucker told News 2 that he lived in New York for 20 years, but the craziest thing that every happened to him in the U.S. happened in Middle Tennessee.

As for Edmondson, he is charged with auto theft and is being held under a $35,000 bond in the Maury County Jail.