A Memphis food truck owner is picking up the pieces after a pickup truck plowed through his business over the weekend. Memphis police say the driver, 42-year-old Alton Turner, was trying to kill two people, and it was all caught on video.
We’ve never had a problem. This is the first time, food truck owner Mark Maughmer told Action News 5, I just want people to know this is a safe environment.
Maughmer said his Friday night at the Cordova Pit Stop Food Truck Park on Macon Road ended with a bang when Turner drove his truck into Maughmer’s food stand on purpose.
So, he’s mad, and here he comes back, said Maughmer while walking Action News 5 through the surveillance video of the incident, I don’t know what he’s doing, but I’m like, ‘You need to go.’
Maughmer said Turner was irate after a bar next door refused to serve him more alcohol.
He came back over here and got into it with me because they wouldn’t serve him, said Maughmer, and I wanted him to leave. I even called a friend of his and asked him to come get him, but it didn’t happen.
The surveillance video captured the moment investigators said Turner went back to the bar’s parking lot, got into his Ford F-250, floored it, and then crashed into an elevated dining area and Maughmer’s food truck.
Even after the truck got stuck, MPD said Turner kept revving the engine, with tires spinning and smoke rising, as he tried to move the truck forward to hit Maughmer and another employee.
Memphis police charged Turner with two counts of attempted second-degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault.
Action News 5 reviewed his arrest record dating back to 2012, and among the charges, we found: DUI, domestic assault, and a probation violation.
Turner was ordered to complete 16 psychiatric counseling sessions and a domestic violence intervention program. It’s unclear if he finished.
Maughmer is looking at $30,000 to repair his equipment. Last weekend’s chaos, he said, was a one-off.
This place, we’ve never had a problem in three and a half years, he said proudly, We’ve been here with no incidents, no fights, no car break-ins. It’s a family place!
At last check, Turner was still in the Shelby County Jail on Monday night.
