CHESTERFIELD, VA (WWBT) – A tow truck driver nearly lost his life while on the job after he was sideswiped by another driver who didn’t stop. The hit and run happened on Interstate 95 just south of 895 in Chesterfield.

Barry Best has a massive bruise on his lower back, but has since returned to work, even taking jobs on the interstate again. The hit and run driver is still on the run.
Best’s wife turned to Craigslist for help and even offered a reward.
Best could’ve easily been killed. A huge bruise on his back is a painful reminder.
“Felt like I’d been hit by a baseball bat,” said Best.
Best was on-call early Saturday. Two men needed a tow to Petersburg.
“I was at least six to eight feet on the other side of the white line,” said Best.
He was about to load up their car when the father of two said his life flashed before his eyes.
“I was standing pretty much like this when I saw the car coming towards me at an angle and about that time is when I squeezed up like that, and it still clipped me right there,” said Best.
Best said he heard and felt the car’s side mirror shatter against his back. Neither Best nor the men he was helping got a good look at the car. He thinks it was a dark colored Honda Accord.
“They should have at least stopped to see if I was okay,” said Best.
Last year, the DMV tracked 243 crashes statewide involving tow truck drivers. One was killed, 20 others hurt.
Tow truck drivers are now protected under Virginia’s move over slow down law. State lawmakers expanded it last year to include amber flashing lights. Best said his were on. He was also wearing a bright safety vest.
“It’s very, very easy to see at night,” said Best.
Best’s wife posted an ad on Craigslist, but only one other person besides me responded, asking if he was okay.
“That kind of makes us wonder if this person knows something about it,” said Best.
State police are investigating. If you have information that could help solve the case, give them a call. The vehicle involved will have damage to the front passenger side mirror. 

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The owner of a Beaufort tow truck company who was struck by a pickup as it ran off Interstate 95 in Jasper County died at Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah on Saturday night, according to Jasper County Coroner Martin Sauls.
Denise Peeples Smith, 55, owner of East Coast Recovery, was operating a roll-back wrecker parked in the north-bound emergency lane on I-95 near the Coosawhatchie exit when the pickup veered off the interstate and crashed into the vehicle being loaded onto the wrecker, according to S.C. Highway Patrol Cpl. Bob Beres.
Both vehicles then struck Smith and her friend, Phyllis Amsler Cook, 52, of Beaufort, as the women stood next to the wrecker.
Cook was killed instantly. Smith was taken to Memorial University Medical Center, where she later died, Sauls said.
The driver of the vehicle that hit the wrecker, James Thomas, 61, of Florida, was taken to Colleton Medical Center in Walterboro with non-life threatening injuries, Sauls said. His condition was unknown Sunday.
The driver of the truck that was being towed was uninjured, Sauls said, adding that the man witnessed the entire incident unfold.
The investigation into the crash is ongoing, according to a Highway Patrol news release.
According to officials at the scene, the vehicle Thomas was driving contained multiple bottles of alcohol, though officials said it was too early in the investigation to know whether alcohol played a role in the crash.
Smith’s daughter, Sonya Eppenger, 33, said her mother and Cook, both longtime Beaufort residents, had been friends since high school. Cook had been riding along in the tow truck Saturday to keep her mother company, she said.
Smith inherited the wrecker service from her husband, Ron Smith, who died last year, Eppenger said. She said her mother held her own in a male-dominated business.
“I would help her sometimes in the truck and we would pull up to change a tire and there’d be a grown man there with this look on his face,” Eppenger said. “She worked hard and did the best she could.”
Funeral arrangements for the women, which are being handled by Anderson Funeral Home, are pending, Eppenger said.

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Here’s the story from The Palm Beach Post:

BOYNTON BEACH — A tow truck driver was hit and killed by a car on Interstate 95 this afternoon while he was picking up traffic cones, a spokesman with the Florida Highway Patrol said.
Joseph Ricciardelli, an employee with Emerald Towing, had pulled his tow truck over to the side of I-95 south of the Woolbright Road exit to assist the Florida Highway Patrol with towing a car. The owner of that car had been arrested and the car needed to be moved off the road, said Lt. Tim Frith with the Florida Highway Patrol.
As part of his work, Ricciardelli, 46, of Boynton Beach, had put up traffic cones to block off part of the HOV lane. After he had loaded the car onto his tow truck, Ricciardelli began to pick up the traffic cones, Frith said.
At that time, Johnnie V. Knowles of Deerfield Beach was driving northbound on I-95 when the car in front of him apparently braked, slowing down near the police scene, Frith said. Knowles swerved his 1995 Toyota Camry into the HOV lane to avoid hitting the driver in front of him – and instead hit Ricciardelli.
Ricciardelli was transported to Delray Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. Knowles was transported to Bethesda Memorial Hospital with minor injuries.
The investigation into Ricciardelli’s death has not been completed and charges are pending, but that there’s no indication at this point that criminal charges will be filed against Knowles, Frith said.

From Footnotes TowBlog: Towing News Around The Web (www.thetowblog.com)
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