A Garland tow truck driver has said that he is thankful to be alive after he was shot while towing a stolen car for police. Garland Police officers responded to a stolen vehicle call in the 4900 block of Freeport Drive at around nine AM Thursday.
The tow truck driver, identified as Donald Patrick, was called to tow the vehicle to a pound so that police could conduct their investigation. While Patrick was driving to the pound, 40-year-old Carl Lee Robinson allegedly pulled up next to the driver in a Mercedes SUV and began shooting.
“He gets on the passenger side of me, fires into the truck, at that time I realized I got hit in the calf,” Patrick said. “He kept waving his gun a few times. Innocent bystanders on the freeway, they don’t know what’s going on.”
Patrick was able to escape from the shooting and was later taken to the hospital by paramedics. According to Patrick, he could only think of his family during the attack. “The only thing that was going through my mind was my family,” Patrick said. “You don’t know when your time is. That’s basically the thing I can say. And that day, the Good Lord was looking after me.”
He also acknowledged the love shown to him and his family by officers of the Garland Police Department. Robinson, who was later arrested, is now charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Robinson told detectives in an interview that the car belonged to him and that he thought Patrick was stealing the car. Police have said that there is no evidence to show that he legally owns the vehicle.