TAMPA, Fla. — Tow truck operators from across Tampa Bay met up on the Howard Frankland Bridge to honor a tow truck driver who was hit and killed by a drunk driver.
Allison Huffman slammed her car into Rodger Perez-Borotto in the early hours of Feb. 15, 2016.
Perez-Borotto had been stopped on the side of the road to help another driver whose SUV had broken down. He was on the shoulder of the road when Huffman, 38, hit his truck and sent him flying, investigators said.
After leaving the scene, she ditched her car and took a cab to the Hard Rock Casino where she spent several hours drinking and gambling.
Huffman was sentenced to 28 years in prison in 2018.
"It absolutely emotionally tears me apart because I know what the families go through," Ginger Darling said.
Darling owns and operates Nationwide Towing in Palm Harbor. She and other operators light up their rigs to honor Perez-Borotto and to bring awareness to drivers to slow down and move over.
"Maybe people will start seeing all of us together, start looking, see the banners and all of us together, and start understanding," retired tow truck driver Harry Lev said.
In Florida, it’s the law for drivers to slow down or move over when there are emergency responders on the side of the road.
"We get out of these trucks, we're here to help you, and we get smeared down the highway. Why?! Because people don't pay attention," Darling said.
She says there have been about 12 tow truck operators hit and killed at work across the United States already this year. That's why they fight so more of them can stay alive.
"Hopefully the end result is even to just save one life," Darling said.
The International Towing Recovery Museum of America keeps track of towing deaths and continue to add more names to their wall of the fallen each year.
What other people are reading right now:
- Kentucky firefighter, daughter among 4 killed in crash while headed to volleyball tournament
- 'Hopefully I scared him': Florida man baits mail package thief
- Trump's Daytona: NASCAR fans revved up for presidential visit
- Police: 17-year-old at large after fatally shooting mom and 6-year-old brother
- 'I just want to leave school forever': Girl battling cancer says student snatched wig off her head and called her names
- In reversal, Florida approves $2 million compensation claim for man wrongfully convicted in 1976
