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Tow truck driver tells of dramatic confrontation
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Deronta Franklin, a tow-truck driver, was waiting for a dispatch at Peachtree and Wall streets in downtown Atlanta when he saw a dark SUV round the corner and hit the curb. The driver pulled into a parking deck behind him, and waited.
Seconds later, two police cars followed and stopped at the corner.
“I pointed directly into the parking deck and they went in,” said Franklin, 37.
The suspect burst through the garage gate and sped in.
“Three more officers [in vehicles] came up and said ‘Which way did he go?’ I told them ‘He went right up in there.’”
Franklin said the next thing he knew, the SUV driver was at his window pointing a gun at him. “He told me to get out of the truck and I told him he could have the truck,” Franklin said.
Franklin said the gunman was about 6 feet 1 inch, about 200 lbs, and was wearing turquoise green or blue suede jogging suit. Franklin watched as the man got in his truck and sped north on Peachtree Street, and took a left in the wrong direction on Walton Street, a one-way street.
After hearing about the wake of death the man left, Franklin said “I’m surprised he didn’t shoot then. I was just fortunate.”
A Tow Atlanta Inc. CEO Page Porter said the company’s truck was later found at 98 Cone St.
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