Man convicted in 2012 shooting of tow truck driver
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A Memphis man was found guilty Thursday morning of shooting a tow truck driver nearly four years ago.
A Shelby County jury found Joseph Proffitt, 30, guilty of two counts of attempted second-degree murder, three counts of aggravated assault, and two counts of employing a firearm with intent to commit a felony. He is due for sentencing Oct. 20, according to the Shelby County District Attorney General’s Office.
According to an affidavit, police responded to a shooting call at Tulane Road and Shelby Drive in October 2012 and found a man shot in the back. A second victim told police he was also shot at. A witness on the scene who detained Proffitt told police he was towing illegally parked cars out of the Tulane Apartments complex with the man who was shot when Proffitt and his brother David Proffitt approached them armed with guns, the affidavit said. As the tow truck was backing up, Proffitt began beating on the window with a silver handgun, the affidavit said. The shooting victim began to drive off when Joseph Proffitt fired shots into the tow truck, striking the man in the back, the witness said. The suspects got into a Cadillac and drove off and the witness chased them down and caught Proffitt, the affidavit said. Police later located David Proffitt, who was still carrying a handgun at the time of his arrest.
Memphis and Shelby County officials may have an idea which areas of the city could be de-annexed easily — and cheaply — by Sept. 22.
Memphis City Council member Bill Morrison, chairman of a local task force that’s studying the possibility of voluntary deannexations, said he hopes to receive a report then about the “low-hanging fruit” — areas without city services or that don’t generate much revenue.
Once task force members have an idea of what areas could be de-annexed, they can begin holding community meetings, inviting residents to give presentations and, perhaps, inviting some residents to sit on the task force, Morrison said.
“I think this task force knows we’re going to get something done in some shape or form,” Morrison said.
Chief Operations Officer Doug McGowen said he would begin working with the county and the city’s consultant, The PFM Group, on recommendations.
De-annexing some noncontroversial areas would be a sign of good faith to state lawmakers, who on Monday asked whether the task force was seriously considering voluntary deannexation.
McGowen, recapping his response, said the city is open to the possibility, as long as the decision is datadriven and made on the local level with input from all of the area shareholders.
“We had what I thought to be a pretty good dialogue, both before and after the session,” he said.
Most of Thursday’s task force meeting was taken up by a recap of Monday’s summer study committee meeting, including of a presentation shown to lawmakers of how 28 other states handle resident-initiated de-annexation.
De-annexation become a central focus of Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland in March, when lawmakers came close to approving a bill that would have allowed any area annexed since 1998 to petition for a vote to deannex themselves.
The bill was effectively killed when it was sent to the summer study committee, but is expected to be resurrected next year.
According to the presentation shown by McGowen, only seven states allow referendum votes on de-annexation, although all but one require that the vote be open to all citizens in the city.
If the bill had passed, Tennessee and Ohio would have been the only two states to restrict the vote to the areas that are seeking de-annexation.