(Memphis) A Memphis man is locked up, charged with firing shots at a tow truck driver.
Eddie Jones parked in a handicap space at an apartment complex on Mendenhall, and police say when a truck driver tried to tow his car, he pulled out his gun.
Other tow truck drivers say this is nothing new.
They say the job, which is already dangerous, got even more dangerous about a year and a half ago.
“I drive by myself. I have nobody with me,” said Stan Nichols, a tow truck driver for Superior Automotive and Towing.
Tow truck drivers might work alone, but they often share the same stories.
“I have had probably 20 something shots shot at me. Last year, I had a bullet hole through the hoodie I was wearing.”
Monday night, police say a tow truck driver was dodging bullets on Mendenhall, when Jones fired six shots at him.
The tow truck driver was trying to get Jone’s car out of a handicap space at the Alden Gates Apartments.
When Jones got word, police say he grabbed his gun and started firing.
The driver barely got away.
Nichols says he knows what that’s like.
“I almost lost my life over doing my job.”
Nichols says the job’s gotten more dangerous since the city passed an ordinance at the end of 2011.
It requires tow truck drivers to get authorization from the Memphis Police Department before they make a tow.
That means they must take down the cars information and call it in before they haul it away.
“We should have at least a 15 minute window,” said Nichols. “A 15 minute window would give us enough time to get off property, be secure, be safe, call it in, and get it to our lot.”
He says until those changes are made, Memphis is going to see more arrests like this and more lives in jeopardy.
“Aggravated assault is all he got,” Nichols said about Jones. “Attempted murder is what he should get. They are not try to scare us. They are not trying to maim us. They are shooting to kill us.”
While Jones is in jail on a $50,000 bond, truck drivers hope the City of Memphis and council members will consider changing the rules for their safety.
Police say the tow truck driver told Jones he could pay $45 in cash if he wanted him to put the car down.
Instead, Jones reportedly chose to grab his weapon.
