Here’s the story from the Toronto Sun:

A tow truck driver is being credited with saving the life of a young man as he bled out next to a Vaughan road.

Brad Gewarges was riding in the back of his buddy’s car, heading west on Hwy. 7, when it was hit by an eastbound vehicle that was turning south onto Marycroft Ave., just east of Pine Valley Dr. at 5 p.m. last Friday.

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The 24-year-old man was ejected from the car, sending his head into a curb before he landed on a grassy area.

“I’ve never seen an accident like that in my life,” said tow truck driver Rob Mileto who was pumping gas across the street when he heard two bangs he said “sounded like a bomb hit Woodbridge.”

“It looked like a horror show. His blood was gushing out of his head like a water hose,” Mileto said.

Mileto, who is running for Vaughan council in Ward 3, grabbed whatever cloth and bandage he could find in his first-aid kit and wrapped up Gewarges’ head until he looked “like a mummy,” he said.

“(Paramedics) said if it wasn’t for him that my brother would have either died from choking on his own blood or he would have bled to death or he would have been paralyzed just laying there,” Simona Gewarges said, speaking for her sibling who couldn’t answer questions because of his head injury.

According to Mileto, this sort of behaviour is nothing new.

“This is the 13th life I’ve saved from 1993 until now,” he said. “I feel good. I do it every day, all the time … that’s my job.”

In 1996, Mileto was profiled in the Sun for helping firefighters lift an overturned vehicle to free an elderly driver.

His campaign website reads: “A HERO for Ward 3.”

Two days in hospital and 19 staples-to-the-head later, Gewarges was released and, aside from memory problems, is expected to recover, his sister said.

His cousin who was riding in the front passenger seat suffered a concussion, while the friend who was driving lost part of his ear, she said.

York Regional Police allege the crash was the friend’s fault, charging the 28-year-old with careless driving, failing to properly wear a seat belt and failing to surrender his insurance card, Const. Rebecca Boyd said.

And while Gewarges may not remember the moments before he was ejected, police pieced this much together: He wasn’t wearing his seat belt.

From Footnotes TowBlog: Towing News Around The Web
(www.thetowblog.com)
Posted by Cyndi Kight, Associate Editor of Towing and Recovery Footnotes

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Here’s the story from www.tricities.com:

MARION, Va. – Everything changed for tow truck operators six years ago.

The industry used to be a relatively unregulated process of hook ‘em up and haul ‘em out. But that began to unravel the night a Northern Virginia lawyer’s car was towed from a private lot with a warning sign obscured by tall bushes.

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Angered, he pored through state law to find that nothing covered hidden signs, or much else. So, he fired off a letter of disgust and legal insight to a state senator.

“It turns out … it’s a hot topic with a lot of people,” former senator Jay O’Brien, of Clifton, said of the furor that followed.

For the two years after he received the letter, O’Brien’s life was a mosaic of research, public meetings and rewording state code.

Now, tow truck operators throughout Virginia must have a license to haul cars from accidents, private lots or breakdowns. Simply put, if the tow operator gets paid for the haul, then he needs to be licensed. Additionally, individual drivers must obtain tow truck driver authorization documents.

The tow truck operator also must put a licensing sticker on every truck.

Those regulations, and the operations of tow companies, are governed by a new state body, the Board of Towing and Recovery Operators. Created in 2006, the board is tasked with dispensing the operator’s licenses, tow driver’s authorizations and truck stickers; testing operators on the laws of the profession, a requirement for all new drivers; rummaging through criminal backgrounds; and fielding customer complaints.

“It’s an innocent thing that turned into something much bigger than I thought,” O’Brien said.

Like it or leave it

Roger Blevins, of Rogers Towing in Marion, needed a minute to think when asked how the new licensing laws have affected his profession. He hemmed and hawed as he weighed the drawbacks against the benefits.

On the negative side, he said, the licenses are pricey enough to bankrupt small companies.

“There was a couple of people … that it could put them under in time,” Blevins said of the licensing requirement, which began July 1, 2009.

That first year, the board authorized 1,474 operator’s licenses, approved 4,548 tow driver’s authorizations, and affixed decals to 4,275 trucks, according to the board’s 2009 annual report.

The operator’s licenses must be bought annually and run from $250 to $500 a company, depending on the number of trucks owned and their weight.

The individual tow driver’s authorizations cost $87 a year. The application comes with a $37 fee for a criminal background check. Additionally, every truck must sport a new licensing decal each year, costing $10 each. An extra $50 is added if the business owns three or more trucks, depending on the vehicle’s weight.

In its first year, the application and decal fees generated $1.12 million in revenue, according to the board’s 2009 annual report.

Before the licensing laws kicked in, wrecker companies only had to register their trucks each year with the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.

That’s still necessary, on top of the licensing.

Annual registration fees run from $80 to $1,328 a truck, depending on the weight of the tow truck and the average estimated weight of vehicles towed. There also is an annual $10 a truck bulk carrier fee going to the Virginia Operating Authority, which allows the truck to haul in the state.

Blevins also saw a silver lining in the expense incurred on his company by the new towing board – he had to expand his business to cover the fees.

“If anything, it probably helped my business because it convinced me to get on the state police [emergency dispatch] list and to join motor clubs,” Blevins said.

Not every tow operator could envision a positive spin.

Retired tow operator Dave Thomas, of auto repair company Marion Frame and Alignment, quit the wrecker business two weeks after the licensing law began.

“If you’ve been doing something for 26 years, and have been doing things the same way, would you want someone to come along and say you’ve got to have a license?” he said.

Thomas tried to tow wrecked cars without a license, but the towing board ordered him to stop, and had the sheriff’s department remove his company from the 911 rotation list.

Shock over the licensing requirements also erupted from the industry’s sidelines, where retired tow operators are voicing an opinion.

David Pickle, of David’s Auto Repair in Rural Retreat, misses the new faces he met and adventures he enjoyed during his nearly 20 years as a tow operator before retiring in 2003.

He’d consider jumping back in but, like Thomas, fears it’s a case of an old dog learning new tricks.

“I think it would be too much regulations to comply with,” Pickle said.

Still off the radar

Public safety tows, where vehicles are pulled from wrecks or other incidents involving police, are among the few areas left untouched by both the towing board and state law.

The issue is still left to local laws and police policies.

Smyth County, for example, doles the tow calls to wrecker companies based on a rotation list regulated by sheriff’s department policy.

In nearby Wytheville, the rotation list is controlled by a recently enacted ordinance that offers public safety calls to companies inside the town limits before looking to companies in the surrounding county.

Town officials created the new ordinance as an attempt to provide priority status to its in-town businesses while also whittling away at the time spent waiting for a wrecker.

“To have an officer on the side of the road waiting for 20 minutes was just too long,” Town Manager Wayne Sutherland said.

Initially, O’Brien’s state legislation mandated that the towing board decide which companies could answer 911 requests. Regulations were to be based mainly on the equipment in a company’s inventory.

But tow operators argued that the need for costly equipment could differ according to geography, population or whether the wreck is on a mountain road or in a big city.

“There was a view held by many that this particular regulation would be very onerous … to the mom-and-pops and the one- and two-truck businesses,” board Executive Director Marc Copeland said.

In 2009, O’Brien’s law was changed to prohibit the board from regulating public safety calls.

O’Brien, who left the Virginia General Assembly in 2007, did not know his provision on the public safety tow had been repealed until told by a reporter.

Still, he said, the connection between tow operators and emergency calls is a strong one.

“People often think of the first responder [as] the police, and the rescue squads,” O’Brien said. “But the tow operator sees it all, and has nightmares from it.”

Mandatory fees

To operate a tow truck business, the state requires:

* Tow operator’s business license: $250-$500.
* Tow truck driver authorization (each driver): $87.
* Criminal background check (each driver): $37.
* Authorization stickers (each truck): $10, with an extra $50 for an operator with three or more trucks.
* Motor vehicle registration (each truck): $80 to $1,328.
* Bulk carrier fee (each truck): $10.

From Footnotes TowBlog: Towing News Around The Web
(www.thetowblog.com)
Posted by Cyndi Kight, Associate Editor of Towing and Recovery Footnotes

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Our condolences to the family and acquaintances of 67-year-old Julian Baugh who died on Oct. 29 from injuries sustained when his driverless truck ran over him. Here’s the story from The Gwinnett Daily Post:

From Footnotes TowBlog: Towing News Around The Web
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Posted by Cyndi Kight, Associate Editor of Towing and Recovery Footnotes

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Our condolences to the family and acquaintances of 38-year-old George Soriano who died yesterday in a tragic accident. Here’s the story from the Houston Chronicle:

Federal officials are investigating the death of a tow truck driver at a FedEx distribution center in south Houston.

The wrecker driver, 38, was killed shortly after 2 p.m. at the building in the 2700 block of Holly Hall, Houston police said.

The driver, identified by a family member at the scene as George Soriano, was towing a disabled FedEx delivery truck to the center when he was killed.

“It appears to be a tragic accident,” FedEx spokesman Jim McCluskey said from the company’s Memphis headquarters.

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FedEx officials offered condolences to the family and said they were cooperating with officials.

Soriano had four children by his first wife and three more with his second wife – of which two were his stepchildren, said his father-in-law Gilbert Lopez.

Soriano had been working with his father-in-law at another company with a Houston Safe Clear towing contract but recently joined another company because he was concerned about towing cars on busy highways.

“He called and said, ‘I don’t think I can handle it over there,’” Lopez said.

An investigator with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration was at the scene. OSHA officials later Tuesday could not be reached for comment.

mike.glenn@chron.com

From Footnotes TowBlog: Towing News Around The Web
(www.thetowblog.com)
Posted by Cyndi Kight, Associate Editor of Towing and Recovery Footnotes

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Here’s the story from the Janesville Gazette:

JANESVILLE — Thirty tow trucks paraded through Janesville on Saturday to spread holiday cheer.

Trucks were decorated with tinsel and stockings. One truck had Santa’s sleigh and reindeer on its flatbed. Others carried large boxes designed like Christmas presents.

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When the tow truck drivers arrived at Traxler Park, they delivered more than 1,000 toys to the Salvation Army and ECHO. The toys will be donated to local families.

The parade was part of the Tow Trucks for Tots program, which collects toys for children and promotes the towing industry. Worldwide Equipment Sales of Rockdale, Ill., and the Wisconsin Towing Association organized the event.

Pat Winer of Worldwide Equipment started Tow Trucks for Tots a few years ago.

He said tow trucks often would form a parade as part of a funeral procession when a tow truck driver died.

“We wanted a tow truck parade when everyone would laugh and have a good time,” Winer said. “We thought, ‘What would be better than collecting toys for children?’ ”

Worldwide Equipment does a tow truck parade every year in Illinois, he said. The company also organizes a parade and toy giveaway in other cities that might need help.

Janesville was chosen because the General Motors plant and other businesses have closed, creating a hardship on families, Winer said. GM makes many tow trucks.

“The people who built those helped the towing industry,” he said. “We wanted to help them.”

Tow trucks from Wisconsin and Illinois were in the parade. They had their lights flashing when they drove. Police cars, ambulances and fire trucks also participated in the parade.

When the trucks arrived at Traxler, about 75 people helped unload presents. They formed assembly lines to pass the presents from the trucks to other vehicles that will take gifts to the Salvation Army and ECHO.

“Look at these people. They’re all smiling and happy to be helping out,” Winer said.

Steve Davis of Davis Citgo in Janesville and the Wisconsin Towing Association said fundraisers were done to buy toys. He said the towing association asked its members to donate and help.

“This time of year it’s a good thing,” Davis said. “It’s a good day for Janesville.”

From Footnotes TowBlog: Towing News Around The Web
(www.thetowblog.com)
Posted by Cyndi Kight, Associate Editor of Towing and Recovery Footnotes

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Here’s the story from fredricksburg.com:

A tow truck driver with Anytime Towing in Ladysmith was honored tonight with the Life Saving Award for his heroic actions that saved two lives on Halloween morning.

Sheriff Tony Lippa presented T.K. Loving, 36, of Hanover, with the award during a dinner at Timbers Restaurant.

Sheriff Tony Lippa and Major Scott Moser present T.K. Loving with the Life Saver Award Wednesday night.

Lippa, who said he is a former tow truck driver, said he knows the dangers of that job and thanked Loving for his heroic actions that not only saved his own life, but the life of someone else.

Loving was responding to a AAA call around 4:3o a.m. on Oct. 31 to tow a vehicle that had broken down on I-95, halfway between the Ladysmith and Thornburg exits.

That’s when a vehicle drove off the main road and struck Loving  and the customer he was helping as they stood on the northbound shoulder.

The crash left Loving and Robyn Silcox, 20, of Stafford with serious injuries. The driver of the vehicle drove off.

Silcox, a 2008 Stafford High School graduate and a junior at Old Dominion University, is recovering from serious injuries to her hand and arm and has more surgery planned.

She credited Loving with spotting the oncoming vehicle before it hit them, managing to mostly push her out of its path and saving her life.

In an earlier interview with the Free Lance-Star, Loving said he reacted as anyone would, and gave the credit to the rumble strips.

“I heard the rumble strips. The rumble strips pretty much saved me and her,” Loving said.

When he heard tires crossing over the strips, embedded in the pavement to alert drivers they are straying from the road, “I looked up, saw headlights, and grabbed her,” Loving said.

The impact shattered Loving’s right ankle and tore his Achilles tendon. He is not allowed to put any weight on his foot, and is using crutches. He will need surgery and physical therapy.

Loving has been a tow- truck driver for Anytime Towing for three years, and said most of his work is on I-95. Until that day, he’d never had a close call with passing traffic.

When he responded to Silcox’s call, Loving said he parked his tow truck on the grass, putting the entire northbound shoulder between him and the right travel lane of I-95.

“It’s not like I was close,” Loving said.

He suspects the driver may have mistaken the shoulder for a travel lane.

Loving will receive worker’s compensation for a portion of his salary, but said he could be out of work for six months. Loving’s wife is a stay-at-home mother to their four children, including a 4-month-old.

“It’s going to be a struggle. I’ll have to figure something out,” Loving said.

The driver of the dark blue 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt or Pontiac G5  fled the scene without stopping, and has yet to be located.

Anyone with information about the crash or vehicle is asked to call the Virginia State Police Area 44 Office in Caroline County at 804/633-6799 or e-mail the office at area44@vsp.virginia.gov.

From Footnotes TowBlog: Towing News Around The Web (www.thetowblog.com)
Posted by Cyndi Kight, Associate Editor of Towing and Recovery Footnotes

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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A man was killed Wednesday when he was dragged behind by a vehicle he was trying to tow.
Witnesses said the tow truck driver was in the process of towing an illegally parked SUV when the female owner of the vehicle jumped into the SUV and took off. Initial reports had said the woman jumped into the tow truck, but police corrected that to say she was driving the SUV.
Witnesses said the victim’s leg was caught in a cable that snapped as the woman drove off.Witnesses said they ran after the woman to try to get her to stop.
The tow truck driver was dragged for more than a mile before his leg was torn from his torso.
The SUV was found parked in a nearby neighborhood and police were interviewing several persons of interest in the case.
KRDO-TV reported the victim had both of his legs severed as a result of the dragging incident.
His company, J&J Towing, identified the victim Wednesday night as Allen Rose, 35, a married father of two and an Iraq War veteran who served multiple tours. He was a co-owner of the towing company.
The incident started at the Hill Park Apartments in the 300 block of N. Murray Blvd. in Colorado Springs. Rose’s body was found at Babcock Road and Platte Avenue.
Police said the crime scene stretched for 1.2 miles, containing blood and other evidence of the dragging.
Several streets in the area were closed through the evening rush hour while police documented evidence.

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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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A woman’s death during a AAA tow truck call earlier this week in Plains Township has been ruled a homicide by the Luzerne County Coroner’s Office.
Meanwhile, AAA Mid-Atlantic on Wednesday suspended the company, Herbert’s Towing in Wilkes-Barre, that it dispatched to assist 55-year-old Denise Polinchak for a vehicle problem in the parking lot of the Social Security Administration building.

The company said Herbert’s was suspended for a previous, unrelated matter pertaining to background and driving record checks for employees.
Police said Polinchak died from injuries she sustained when a tow truck driver for Herbert’s reversed her vehicle and struck her with an open door around 6 p.m. Monday. The tow truck driver, Robert Wickham, 55, of Dallas, was arrested for the suspicion of driving under the influence after “police detected signs of alcohol impairment,” police said.
Polinchak died Tuesday from multiple traumatic injuries and her death was ruled homicide, said Luzerne County Chief Deputy Coroner William Lisman.
“AAA Mid-Atlantic is saddened by the circumstances surrounding the accident and expresses sincere condolences to the family of Ms. Denise Polinchak on their loss,” said AAA spokeswoman Jana Tidwell. “Since all facts are not yet available, we will not speculate on the details of this tragic accident. We will be cooperating with any law-enforcement investigations and will await their findings before commenting further on the accident.”
The organization said it suspended Herbert’s Towing from providing AAA service due to a “possible breach” of the company’s independent contractor agreement due to a matter not related to the fatal incident.
Herbert’s has had a 30-year affiliation with AAA and averages approximately 500 calls for service each month for AAA, the organization said. Officials for AAA said 80 percent of AAA members requesting assistance said they were “totally satisfied” in their experience with Herbert’s.
Police said Polinchak was critically injured shortly after she called AAA for help with her vehicle.
Investigators say Wickham was attempting to reverse the woman’s vehicle from a parking stall when Polinchak was struck by an open driver’s side door. Polinchak sustained critical injuries and died a day later in Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Plains Township, police said.
Tidwell confirmed that AAA Mid-Atlantic received a call on March 7 at 4:50 p.m. from Polinchak for assistance and AAA subsequently dispatched Herbert’s towing. Herbert’s is one of several AAA independent contractors in Luzerne County, Tidwell said.
Tidwell said that once accepted as an independent contractor for AAA, each contractor must annually certify they have conducted background checks for felony and misdemeanor convictions going back 25 years, as well as annual motor vehicle and driving records checks for all drivers providing roadside assistance to AAA members.
Herbert’s most recently submitted certification on January 19, 2011, stating that it was in full compliance with those and other contractual requirements, Tidwell said.
As a matter of course, AAA Mid-Atlantic terminates any independent contractor that fails to meet their contractual obligations, she said.
In Wednesday’s edition, The Citizens’ Voice reported that the fatal incident in Plains Township was the second run-in a Herbert’s Towing driver had with Plains Township police in recent weeks. On Feb. 28, an officer observed a Herbert’s tow-truck traveling on East Carey Street without any rear tail lights illuminated and the officer stopped the vehicle because he couldn’t see the registration plate.
A records check of the driver, Donald Mosley, 40, of Wilkes-Barre, indicated that his driver’s license was suspended and the Luzerne County Sheriff’s Department had a warrant for his arrest for failure to appear in court on several theft cases, according to Plains police.
Police also noted Herbert’s recently purchased the tow-truck, but never registered the title with the state.
Mosley was jailed and the tow-truck was towed from the scene, police said.
Officials for Herbert’s declined comment when a reporter visited the Kidder Street business on Wednesday.
Polinchak’s obituary appears today on page 27.
bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2055

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