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Security guard shoots trucker over truck stop parking spot, police say

John Kingston
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The trucking industry’s tensions over adequate parking can be seen as a backdrop to an incident Friday in Oklahoma that left a truck driver in the hospital after being shot by a security guard at a truck stop.

According to several local news reports, the incident took place at a TA Truck Center in Oklahoma City, near the intersection of South Council Road and Interstate 40. The shooting occurred in a section of the truck stop with reserved truck parking.

Sgt. Brad Gilmore of the Oklahoma City Police Department, quoted by local news outlets, described the incident as occurring when the security guard for the truck stop was checking the reserved spots. “Apparently the security guard was out there checking that when a disagreement happened,” Gilmore was quoted as saying. “A physical altercation took place. The security guard discharged his firearm.”

The driver, who was not identified in the news stories, was taken to a local hospital. Charges were not filed against the security guard, though Gilmore indicated evidence could be presented to the local district attorney, who could pursue further action.


The report on the shooting from local television station KWTV quoted a truck driver on the scene named Jimmy Combs. His comments seem to sum up the issue with parking that truck drivers face every day. 

“That’s pretty severe force when you’re taking somebody down for parking in somebody’s parking spot,” Combs was quoted as saying. “Most of the time long-haul truck drivers are tired. They run eight, 10, 12 hours and when they want to go to sleep, they go to sleep. You wake them up, I mean if I get woke up, I’m kind of in a bad mood.”

In last year’s annual survey of the biggest issues facing trucking from ATRI, the research arm of the American Trucking Associations, drivers put parking as the No. 3 issue. A year earlier, it was second. In the 2018 survey, management listed parking as the ninth biggest concern. In the most recent survey, it didn’t place in the top 10 in the view of management.


160 Comments

  2. Richard Getchell

    The obvious stupidity of the situation aside. I love how everyone downplays the severity of the parking situation. I see it all the time, drivers forced to stop on ramps, seeking out safety in construction zones, that aren’t active. Looking for businesses that see a lot of truck traffic, that you might go unnoticed, or least not bothered… To running out of hours and having to stop on the side of the road, and pray no one hits you. There’s a huge issue within this industry! It has been, and continues to be swept under the rug. Parking is a huge issue, amongst many other issues. I run short haul so I don’t have to deal with it, but being I run overnight I see it absolutely everywhere.

  3. Noble1 suggests SMART truck drivers should UNITE & collectively cut out the middlemen from picking truck driver pockets ! UNITE , CONQUER , & PROSPER ! IMHO

    If truck drivers UNITED they wouldn’t have this sort of a “parking problem” !

    All those years that went by and all those times truck drivers stopped at a truck stop and never thought about uniting and owning truck stops collectively through a Cooperative structure . Tsk , tsk , tsk .

    Don’t feel bad though , it took awhile for even Warren Buffet to wake up and figure it out until 2017 came around !

    Quote: Buffett bets on truck stops, to buy majority of Pilot Flying J

    However , he’s no truck driver , YOU ARE ! Although you should perhaps LEARN FROM HIM ! If truck stops are good enough to attract his money , they should be good enough to attract yours COLLECTIVELY ! You truck drivers are the main clients those trucks stops depend on to survive and you can’t do without them ! WHY AREN’T YOU INVESTING IN YOURSELVES ? Collectively you could also expand and build all the parking & services YOU need wherever you deem them to be necessary !

    You truck drivers need to wake up ! All that money of yours that you keep on putting in middlemen pockets is unnecessary . Start thinking like Buffet ! UNITE & PROSPER !

    In my HUMBLE opinion …………..

      1. Noble1 suggests SMART truck drivers should UNITE & collectively cut out the middlemen from picking truck driver pockets ! UNITE , CONQUER , & PROSPER ! IMHO

        Keep believing that and you’ll remain divided .

        The way I see it is , truck drivers agree on a lot more than they realize . Look at a truck stop at night . A lot agreed to stop there for the night . (wink)

        A lot agree to haul for so and so , and so on and so forth .

        How many do you think would disagree on needing a truck , fuel , parking, or tires etc ? How many would disagree to make more money ? A few ? You don’t have to agree on everything , just enough . It’s a little like politics . A politician doesn’t need all voters to agree in order to get elected , just enough . (wink)

        IMHO

        1. Ted Wright

          Been out here 39 yrs this situation is a direct result of ELD. In addition legal or not I’ve always been able to defend myself I.E. all shots center mass at 25 yds and 1:to the brainpan point blank to finish it. Ifa rent a cop wants to engage he’ll get expert retaliation.

          1. Jerry krage

            So you are going to shot a security gaurd dead when you says your trespassing? He did not have proper permission to be parked ther at that point he was trespassing. If you were to shot him after being asked to vacate the spot that would be murder. Its amazing someone with your limited iq has made it this far in life!

    1. Trucker J

      AGREED! I agree 100%! Give a spineless prick a badge & a gun doesn’t give that person the right to discharge the weapon over something so meaningless. He should be hung by his balls and beaten with bats by each trucker that goes there! Can you tell I’m a tad furious?

    2. Jerry krage

      You are both idiots! Its private property, if this guy parked his truck in your driveway and started a fight you when you told him to move you would just go back in house? Think about it. The gaurd was doing his job and defended himself against an entitled idiot. Good to know there are armed gaurds on these lots to protect the rest of us rule following drivers from ignorant people like youl

      1. Anthony

        You sound like one of those cowards that run their mouth all day then sound civil around people so they dont know its you ,your a p.o.s if your saying its okay for a chicken shit security guard to shoot a fellow trucker over parking,then i hope i never see you in harms way cause ill watch and laugh you shit stain

      2. Stephen Webster

        Then change the rules so it is not against the law to drive for 4 more hours with the companies paying 4 times the state minimum wage, any time the driver is in for any driving over 10 hours driving per day or over 13 hours from the start of the day on the E-log. Plus a hotel room for the 34 hour reset paid by the companies (trucking).

  6. David morris

    The driver is lucky he ain’t dead.getting into a fight and shot over 15 bucks ….is stupid!!! I go thru there every week and there’s always parking at both t/a’s……
    BOTH ALWAYS HAVE PARKING ANYTIME DAY OR NIGHT.WOW SMDH

  7. Coreyleonard

    I’m visiting a truck driver and I will say that parking had got to be in the top 5 as an issue in truck stops. And they have shorten the space by charging for what the call prime parking

  8. Joe

    I am sure that the shot guy was asked to leave first. Maybe they should have called cops to handle it but he was supposed to get the hell out of there if he didn’t pay.
    You don’t like TA/Petro, Flying J/Pilot paid parking? don’t go there. That’s their property and they can do what they want on it. I need that reserved spot for myself, I pay for it and I expect to have it when arrived. Nobody is entitled to anything here.

      1. Bill

        Yes, what makes you think the sorryass has the right to steal the other sorryass’s space? He is also out of time and he paid for the space first!!!

    2. Joan Hubert

      I think its a damn shame truck drivers have to pay for parking when they spend a lot of money for fuel food and other things they purchase at different truck stops
      .Thats just plain greed.and taking advantage of the truck drivers

      1. John

        It’s a business as in making a profit or was overpriced truck stops some kind of a secret?, if anyone knows a place where they spend their money to provide you with a parking space and shower, let me know.

Comments are closed.

John Kingston

John has an almost 40-year career covering commodities, most of the time at S&P Global Platts. He created the Dated Brent benchmark, now the world’s most important crude oil marker. He was Director of Oil, Director of News, the editor in chief of Platts Oilgram News and the “talking head” for Platts on numerous media outlets, including CNBC, Fox Business and Canada’s BNN. He covered metals before joining Platts and then spent a year running Platts’ metals business as well. He was awarded the International Association of Energy Economics Award for Excellence in Written Journalism in 2015. In 2010, he won two Corporate Achievement Awards from McGraw-Hill, an extremely rare accomplishment, one for steering coverage of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster and the other for the launch of a public affairs television show, Platts Energy Week.