Food truck owner recounts near-fatal accident

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A man is in jail after Memphis police say he drove his truck into a food truck.

To make matters worse, the harrowing encounter was captured in the following surveillance video:

“If I had any customers at that time, he would have killed them,” Mark Maughmer said.

Maughmer is the owner of the food truck that was struck in Friday's incident at the Cordova Pit Stop Food Truck Park on Macon Road.

“We've been here three years and we've never had a problem,” Maughmer said. “It’s a family environment.”

When he spoke with WREG, he was out of town repairing his food truck.

Maughmer said the suspect, identified as Alton Turner, appeared to be under the influence when he arrived at the park.

“So he was loud and just drunk,” Maughmer said.

Maughmer told WREG that he and his colleagues had encountered Turner before, but never to the extent of what they experienced that night.

Maughmer says he told a nearby business not to give Turner any more drinks because of Turner's behavior in the park.

He says this outraged Turner and the two argued.

Maughmer said that after several attempts to convince Turner to leave the property, Turner allegedly threatened to kill him.

“He said I was going to get my truck and go through your stuff,” Maughmer said.

As seen in the surveillance video above shared with WREG, Turner turns to walk away.

Moments later, he drives his truck through the fence, onto a flatbed and into Maughmer's food truck.

“He said he was going back to his truck. I'm not letting you get in your truck. So, I kept telling him not to come here,” Maughmer said. “Don’t come here. Well, when he got there, I knocked him out.

According to police, no one was seriously injured.

Still, Maughmer has to pick up the pieces, including more than $30,000 in damages.

As for Turner, he faces two counts of attempted second-degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault.

He is currently in jail on $75,000 bail. He is due back in court Monday morning.