The truck driver shot by a security guard at an Oklahoma City truckstop Friday is in stable condition, as information about the incident comes out slowly.
Sgt. Megan Morgan of the Oklahoma City Police Department said the driver, whose name is not being released, is still in the hospital and is listed in stable condition. His hometown is unknown, but Morgan said his truck and the business the truck is registered under are listed as being in Wichita Falls, Texas.
Reports that the driver grabbed the gun of the security guard, whose name also has not been released, are unconfirmed, Morgan said in an email to FreightWaves.
“I am not sure if the truck driver grabbed the security guard’s gun,” she wrote. “The only information we have so far is that the driver was allegedly parked in a reserved spot, and upon being confronted by security an altercation ensued which led up to the truck driver being shot.”
A colleague of Morgan’s, Sgt. Brad Gilmore, was quoted in a local news report last week as saying that “during [the] altercation, the guard discharged his firearm because he felt like he had to defend himself.”
The police department has not charged anyone at this point but is continuing to investigate, according to Morgan. “The case will be presented to the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office, and they will ultimately determine which charges (if any) are appropriate in the case,” Morgan wrote. “At that point they will determine whether charges will be filed or not.”
Leon Tuthill
Most people that park at these truck stops today don’t spend any money in them they don’t go in the restaurants so therefore why do the truck stops need to have parking for you this is not their problem it’s for the guy driving the truck granted we all by Fuel but we would need to buy a few Lenny why don’t our politicians figure out how to make parking they charge us all five bucks a night and do away with this foolishness
Big Dog
Dafuq you talking about????? Put down the meth and go to sleep stupid!!!!
Doc
Let me translate… “I don’t like what you said, but I can’t think of a coherent argument against it. So I’ll just call you names and dismiss you.”
Paul
Hey Leon seriously put the meth pipe down HOLY MOSES!!!!!! WTF stop already with your jibberish talk!!!! Lol
Cookie
Like police, anyone working as “security” should have to wear a body cam. My husband is a commercial driver. These drivers are America’s glue transporting life’ s needs. They need time to come off the road and rest. No matter what caused the altercation, the security personnel could have called the police to enforce the law if infact a law was broken. The security guard should be terminated immediately.
Jose
Reserved parking needs to be rid of. It’s ridiculous a truck driver has to pay to park after driving so many hours in a day. This should be illegal and ATA NEEDS TO get rid of this reserved parking bullshit
Jim Bone
WOW!! How bizarre! Just off the top of my head, I’d guess that all things being roughly equal at least typically, then if the truck driver is black, and the security guard is white, odds are the DA (who is probably white in that position in OK Oklahoma City) will not press charges against the guard. Conversely, if the guard is black or Latino, and the driver is white, then it’s a good bet charges will be brought against the guard. Then again, if the guard is either black or Latino, including that the driver is also either black or Latino, then it’s possibly gonna be a hard decision for the DA to make whether to press charges or not. Possibly then he will just flip a coin on the decision. That’s “white justice in America,” alive and well today especially in redneck states like Oklahoma. I’m white and I know it’s true!
Darrell
Making the patrons that keep you in business pay to park is ridiculous to begin with!
Brian A Pelkey
Really, a man shot and in the hospital over a parking space at a truck stop. That’s not where we’re going. This needs to end, I’ve been driving over 20 years, this is madness. I don’t care if he was parked in reserved and didn’t pay, ask him to leave, call the police, and why do you need armed guards patrolling parking lot spaces. C’mon people. This makes me sick, I hope this truck stop hole and the security operations are sued and pay severely
Bill
Wow shot over a 15 dollar parking spot. That guard needs to go down.
Ron
This is why banks don’t have armed guards any more. When you arm the guards, people get shot, and corporations get sued.
Noble1 suggests SMART truck drivers should UNITE & collectively cut out the middlemen from picking truck driver pockets ! UNITE , CONQUER , & PROSPER ! IMHO
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Previously I omitted posting a comment on the altercation itself due to the lack of details concerning the story . However, since the story has been reported no further information has been released .
Was lethal force justified ? Apparently the “guard” felt threatened enough to defend himself with lethal force . However , I blame the guard for escalating the confrontation to that point .
He could have approached that truck driver differently .
If the trucker gets all hyper for no reason , walk away for a few minutes to allow the tension to subside . Why carry a fire arm ? Why not simply carry a stun gun if in a worse case scenario “lethal force” is necessary ? However, don’t provoke it to such a point .
It’s touchy to judge a situation without all the facts . I would have liked to see the security camera recording .
I haven’t read anywhere about the truck driver being awakened from sleep .
That being said , there’s a way to approach people without causing an altercation .You want to prevent it from potentially escalating into a physical one . It’s all about attitude .
Some guards go off on power trips . They have bad attitudes and use authority abusively .
In conclusion . Authority should conduct themselves appropriately when confronting in such situations . There’s a friendly way , and then there’s an obnoxious authoritative way . The way that guard handled the situation lead it to tarnish the truck stop’s reputation . Who the heck in their right mind would want to go to a truck stop with a trigger happy guard there ?
Boycott that place . If truckers don’t stand up to this sort of unnecessary preventable aggression , then you’re a lost cause .
I’m not defending the wrong the trucker committed . I’m simply strongly stating that there is a more humane and civil way to approach such a situation without it leading to shooting an individual . That guard needs better training . In fact all guards should be trained to handle confrontations amicably .
I wouldn’t go to that truck stop until management guarantees and commits to a change . That bullet could have potentially become astray and hit a bystander or potentially cause severe damage and loss of life if it would have hit a gas tank of an idling truck .
IMHO …………
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Doc
Nobke1
Good post.