Fallen Towers

Friends, colleagues and family of Oklahoma tow operator Bernardo Martinez are remembering him as a  man with a big heart who would go out of his way to help others. Martinez, 41, of Oklahoma City, was struck by a passing vehicle July 8 on Interstate 44 near Fletcher, Okla., as he loaded a disabled pickup…

The tow operator who was missing after a traffic crash on the Don Holt Bridge in Charleston, S.C., has been identified as William Ellis, 45, of North Charleston. Ellis was assisting a motorist with a disabled vehicle on Wednesday. A Charleston County sheriff’s deputy was also at the scene. At approximately 9:50 a.m., a Ford-F-350 towing…

A 61-year-old tow operator, from Dublin, Calif., was struck and killed on June 23 as he assisted a motorist in a disabled vehicle on I-280 in Redwood City, Calif. The operator, who was identified verbally on a news report on KTVU, was a contractor for the Bay Area Freeway Service Patrol, which works with Caltrans…

A Virginia tow operator was struck and killed Thursday, June 11, on an entrance ramp to Interstate 95 in Fredericksburg, Va. According to the Virginia State Police, operator Louis J. Rich, 29, of Locust Grove, Va., was on the shoulder of southbound entrance ramp at Plank Road when a 2020 Chevrolet Impala driven by Christopher…

A tow operator was killed late Monday, June 8, in a chain-reaction crash on I-495 near Route 236 in Fairfax County, Va. According to a news report, the operator was outside of his truck with the truck’s lights flashing as he assisted a disabled motorist. A driver in a Honda Pilot rear-ended a southbound Ford…

An announcement from the Highway Thru Hell TV show confirms that Ken Monkhouse, one of the cast from the show, died May 24 of a heart attack. The full article can be found here.

A tow operator was killed April 22 after being struck by a vehicle near Trumbull, Conn. Corey John Iodice, 58, of Seffner, Fla., was operating a flatbed tow truck for Iodice Family Transport of Fairfield. According to news reports, Iodice was loading a disabled vehicle on the bed when a 48 year-old Weston, Conn., man…

Canadian tow operator Peter Szymczak, 30, was killed Monday, April 6, at approximately 2 p.m. when he was crushed by a vehicle that fell from his tow truck on Southcote Road in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. According to news reports, Szymczak was removing a catalytic converter from an older vehicle outside his home when the incident…

Tow operator Timothy J. Williams, 55, was struck and killed at approximately 9 p.m., Friday, February 7, on U.S. Highway 65 near Springfield, Mo. An employee with Affordable Towing of Springfield, Williams was standing beside a vehicle on the roadside when a vehicle driven by Christopher Rice, 27, traveled off the road and hit Williams,…