Agent Safety & Field Incidents
Tow Truck Driver Killed on Route 287 Shoulder; Driver Charged with Vehicular Homicide
Source: Parsippany Focus · May 6, 2026
Tow truck driver Daniel “DJ” Ortiz, 24, of Hopatcong, New Jersey, was fatally struck while assisting a disabled vehicle on the shoulder of Route 287 when a 2019 Jeep Cherokee left the travel lane and hit both him and his truck. Pierre Innocent, 54, of Orange, NJ, was subsequently charged with second-degree reckless vehicular homicide. Ortiz was performing a standard roadside assist — not a repossession — but the incident highlights the persistent roadside fatality risk for all tow and recovery operators working near live traffic. Roadside death remains one of the top causes of on-duty fatality in the towing and recovery profession, and this case adds to a growing body of vehicular homicide prosecutions following operator deaths on the highway shoulder.
What This Means for Repo Ops
Recovery agencies operating in roadside environments must reinforce traffic incident management protocols and ensure all operators understand highway shoulder safety — proper truck positioning, high-visibility PPE, scene illumination, and when to call for traffic control assistance. The growing trend of vehicular homicide charges in tow operator fatalities signals that prosecutors and courts are increasingly willing to hold motorists criminally accountable, which may support advocacy efforts for stronger Move Over law enforcement. Agencies should document and train to current state or ATSSA TIM standards.
Repo Ops Alert · May 24, 2026 · Agent Safety
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