One year after a deadly crash in Pennsylvania, a truck driver is facing homicide charges for the death of a tow truck driver. The crash happened last August on I-81 near Clarks Summit. ![]() 'I'm too old to be running up embankments to dodge cars.' Some motorists will move over into the other lane or slow down when approaching the flashing red and blue lights of police, fire trucks and ambulances at crash scenes along highways and other busy roads. But, what about when it's only the flashing yellow lights of a tow truck on scene, with no police or firefighters around to ensure no passing motorists hit the tow truck driver as he works to finish hooking the vehicle onto his flatbed? David Duchnik Jr., a 29-year-old Lackawanna County tow truck driver and married father, recently died from injuries suffered after being hit by a vehicle while helping clear an earlier crash scene on Interstate 81, near Clarks Summit. This is a tow truck driver's worst nightmare and a tragic reminder to motorists to be alert and aware when coming up on tow truck operators working to remove wrecked or disabled vehicles. This was the theme Friday morning when about 200 tow trucks from the Poconos and other parts of Pennsylvania, as well as other states, gathered at the Scott Township truck stop off Interstate 81 in Lackawanna County. The gathering came more than an hour before the scheduled funeral Mass for Duchnik at the nearby St. John Vianney Parish of Corpus Christi Church in Montdale. As various towing companies' representatives arrived, forming rows that filled the truck stop parking lot, Duchnik family friends sold T-shirts in Duchnik's memory to help pay for his funeral expenses. 'Man, this just did not have to happen,' one tow truck driver sadly told another, referring to the tragedy that claimed Duchnik's life. Ed Cardiello, owner of Ed's Towing in Mount Pocono, agreed. 'Tow truck operators play just as important a role as do police, firefighters and ambulance personnel, but many motorists don't seem to take what we do as seriously,' said Cardiello, who's been in the business more than 30 years. 'After all, somebody has to clear those vehicles off the roadway. Yet, motorists slow down for police, likely more out of fear of getting a ticket than fear of hurting someone else, but not for us.' Across the U.S., an average of between 55 and 60 tow truck drivers are killed each year while performing their duties, Cardiello said. He gets these figures from the International Towing Recovery Museum in Tennessee, a support group funding funeral expenses for those killed. Recently in Monroe County, an employee of Muldoon's Towing in Scotrun suffered a shattered pelvis, broken ankle and six broken ribs after being hit by a passing vehicle while clearing a crash scene on Interstate 80 West, near milepost 298, not far from the tow company. 'Stay off your phone and pay attention when you're driving,' said Muldoon's owner Jason Jurasits. 'You wouldn't believe some of the things people do when they're driving. Texting, putting on makeup, eating meals out of bowls. I've seen a lot. That's how tragedies like this can happen.' Jurasits worries about what will happen when his daughter reaches driving age in three years. 'They should develop some kind of technology that forces a phone to shut off and stay off while you're operating a motor vehicle,' he said. 'I know tow truck drivers who've been killed, hit or almost hit by passing vehicles while trying to do their jobs. I myself got hit by the side mirror of a passing vehicle. Five years ago, Jurasists was about to hook a vehicle to his flatbed, near PPL's Route 715 location in Tannersville, when that vehicle was rear-ended by another and knocked up onto the cab of his truck. Part of the problem is that the state law, which requires passing motorists to move over into the next lane or slow down, 'has no teeth,' said Cardiello. Sw tanaka bomberman 2017 full. 'I don't see how a violation can stand up in court if you can prove you couldn't move over into the other lane because other cars were passing by in that lane at the time,' said Cardiello, who once was nearly struck by a Jeep Cherokee on I-80 West in Bartonsville. 'And 'slow down?' OK, sure, but to what speed? I just think there needs to be more specificity. 'About 1,000 cars can go by in the time it takes a tow truck operator to hook up a vehicle on a highway,' he said. 'If just 10 percent of those 1,000 cars don't move into the other lane, that's 100 chances for that operator to get hit.' Another concern is when police leave before tow truck drivers can finish clearing scenes, leaving the drivers unprotected from passing traffic. 'I shouldn't have to take a roadblock with me every time I go out to a call because the police aren't able to stick around to keep traffic away,' Jurasits said.
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