Driver accused of purposefully ramming into food truck after being refused alcohol
CORDOVA, Tenn. (WMC/Gray News) - A food truck owner is picking up the pieces after a driver in a pickup truck plowed through his business in an incident caught on video. Police say the driver was trying to kill two people.
Food truck owner Mark Maughmer says his Friday night at the Cordova Pit Stop Food Truck Park in Cordova, Tennessee, ended with a bang when 42-year-old Alton Turner allegedly drove his truck into Maughmer’s food truck on purpose.
“We’ve never had a problem. This is the first time,” Maughmer told WMC. “So, he’s mad, and here he comes back. I don’t know what he’s doing, but I’m like, ‘You need to go.’”
Maughmer says Turner was irate after a bar next door refused to serve him alcohol. The food truck owner says he told the bar to stop serving Turner because he was becoming belligerent.
“He came back over here and got into it with me because they wouldn’t serve him,” Maughmer said, “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.”
Maughmer says the two got into an argument, during which Turner allegedly used a racial slur then threatened to kill the food truck owner.
“Grabbed his keys and then he walked back out and said, ‘Stay right there. I’m going to my truck. I’m going to kill you.’ He comes flying through the fence, straight through the deck,” Maughmer said.
Surveillance video captured the moments investigators say Turner went back to the bar’s parking lot, got into his pickup truck and floored it. He crashed into an elevated dining area and Maughmer’s food truck.
Police say even after the truck got stuck, Turner kept revving the engine, with tires spinning and smoke rising, as he allegedly tried to move the truck forward to hit Maughmer and another employee.
Turner is charged with two counts of attempted second-degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault.
Maughmer’s food truck was destroyed in the incident, and he is looking at $30,000 to repair his equipment. However, he says last weekend’s chaos was a one-off.
“I just want people to know this is a safe environment,” he said. “This place, we’ve never had a problem in three and a half years. We’ve been here with no incidents, no fights, no car break-ins. It’s a family place.”
As of Monday night, Turner was being held in the Shelby County Jail. Court records show his bond is set at $75,000.
WMC reviewed Turner’s arrest record dating back to 2012 and, among the charges, found: driving under the influence, domestic assault and a probation violation. He was ordered to complete 16 psychiatric counseling sessions and a domestic violence intervention program. It’s unclear if he finished.
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