Tow truck driver killed in rollover crash on I-69 in Calhoun County

FREDONIA TWP., MI – A tow truck driver was killed Monday afternoon when he lost control of his truck on I-69 and the vehicle rolled into a ditch, police say.

Rescue crews were called at 4:40 p.m. Monday, May 4, to southbound I-69 near F Drive South in Fredonia Township, Calhoun County, for a single-vehicle rollover crash involving a flat-bed tow truck, according to the Michigan State Police.

Crews discovered the driver and sole occupant of the truck, a 36-year-old Ft. Wayne, Indiana man, suffered fatal injuries in the crash and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

A preliminary investigation indicates the man lost control of the truck after one of its tires suddenly popped, which led the vehicle toward the ditch, where it rolled multiple times, police said.

Southbound I-69 was shut down for several hours while police investigated and wreckage was cleared from the scene, police said.

The crash remained under investigation. The man’s name was being withheld pending notification of his family police said.

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FREDONIA TOWNSHIP, MI (WHTC-AM/FM) -- A 36-year-old Fort Wayne, IN, man died while driving south on I-69 when a tire blew, according to Michigan State Police officials. 

Police called to the scene just before 4:45 p.m. Monday, May 4, 2020, found a flat-bed tow truck, which had rolled several times before stopping in a ditch.

The Indiana man, the truck's driver and only occupant, was dead at the scene. He had been southbound on I-69 near F Drive South, in Calhoun County's Fredonia Township, when the crash happened. 

The crash investigation and clean-up caused southbound I-69 to close for several hours.

The victim's name is being withheld pending notification of next-of-kin and further investigation of the crash, according to police.

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1 injured after crash involving suspected drunk driver on WB I-94 at Telegraph

(WXYZ) — Westbound I-94 was closed for hours at Telegraph Road due to a crash early Monday morning.

Michigan State Police say that troopers were dispatched to the freeway at Ecorse for an injury crash. Preliminary investigation revealed that a Ford Mustang broke down on the shoulder of I-94.

Police say a tow truck was on scene getting ready to tow the Mustang when the driver of a Ford Focus drove onto the shoulder and reportedly struck the rear of the Mustang and pushed it into the tow truck.

The driver of the Mustang was trapped inside and had to be cut out of the car. He was transported to the hospital via survival flight.

The driver of the Focus was arrested for Operating While Intoxicated. Police say there were no other injuries in the crash.

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05.03.2020: A Charcoal Gray Dodge 5500 Wrecker was STOLEN from Fulp’s Wrecker Service on Patterson Ave in Winston Salem, NC.

No Details other then this Police-Chase occurred somewhere between Mooresville and Salsbury, North Carolina

No Resource Link (Video credit to Terry Morton of Kannapolis, NC)

Police identify man struck, killed Saturday night in Springfield

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A man was killed Saturday night around after getting hit by a tow truck driver in north Springfield.

Police say Matthew Canovi, a 63-year-old resident of Brighton, Missouri, died at the scene as a result of the crash.

The crash happened around 9:30 p.m. on U.S. Highway 65 Northbound and Chestnut Expressway.

Springfield police tell KY3 News that a driver called for help, the tow truck responded and while on scene, there was a "terrible accident," and the tow truck driver ended up running over someone.

Police say an Affordable Towing tow truck, driven by 29-year-old Alan Goodkin of Springfield, was on the northbound shoulder of U.S. Highway 65, just north of the Chestnut Expressway overpass.

As Goodkin began to reverse the tow truck to load another car, Canovi was standing on the shoulder of US Highway 65 and struck.

Police say impairment does not seem to be a factor. This is the fifth fatality motor vehicle crash in Springfield in 2020.

Next of kin have been notified. Officers continue to investigate the crash.

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HURON — Glenn Carlson, 81, of Huron, passed away April 28, 2020, at Avantara-Huron.

Due to Covid-19, a private family funeral service will be held at the First United Methodist Church, with burial at Restlawn Memory Gardens Cemetery.

The funeral service will be streamed live on the Kuhler Funeral Home Facebook page, at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, May 2.

Glenn Wallace Carlson was born February 22, 1939, on a farm near Stockholm, to A. Leonard and Hazel (Steffensen) Carlson.

Glenn attended a rural school, while living on the farm near Stockholm and graduated in 1957 from South Shore High School in South Shore.

On June 5, 1960, Glenn married Sharon Lee Wendt at the Evangelical United Brethern Church in Twin Brooks. To this union, three children were born, Kimberly, Kristie and David Carlson.

Glenn, upon graduating from high school, worked first at the South Shore Creamery and later the ASCS office in Huron, mowing bin sites. After moving to Huron, he worked as a mechanic for Johnson DX.

In 1964, he started his own business in a two stall Texaco station on the junction of Hwy 37 and 14, selling gas and also doing mechanic work. It was one of 33 gas stations in Huron at the time, mostly owned by oil companies. He enlarged the business several times to accommodate his increasing business and changing brands of fuel, as one after another of the oil companies left the small towns and other major companies replaced them.

He also had a mail route from the government offices in the Christen-Hohm building to the post office, five days a week for several years starting around 1967.

He was a partner in a rental business called Dakota Rental in 1968 for several years.

He also became a dealer for E-Z Haul truck and trailers and later U-Haul equipment in 1970.

In 1971, he bought the wrecker service and did 24-hour towing until he retired and sold the business to his son, David in 2001.

Glenn had great pride in his grandkids and followed all six of them to whatever sport they were playing or parade they were marching in, from the Citrus Bowl to the Fiesta Bowl parades and all over the Midwest for baseball, football, basketball, volleyball and track.

He was an avid fisherman and loved car races as well. His racing started as a pitman for a friend and then he owned a modified #73 and also drove a hobby stock in 1976.

He was thrilled that Dave decided he was going to race and followed him three nights a week to local tracks since 2008.

More can be found at https://plainsman.com/article/glenn-carlson-81-of-huron

Tow truck operators in Ontario are seeking a reduction in monthly commercial auto insurance premiums as fewer cars on the roads during the novel coronavirus outbreak have left drivers sitting idle.

Last month, two major insurers – Aviva Canada and Intact Financial Corp. – announced financial relief for customers with commercial vehicles. The measures include premium rebates, allowing customers to reduce coverage limits and flexible payment terms.

But in order to receive rebate credits, many policies require vehicles to be parked for a minimum of 30 days, which towing companies say is not a viable option for their sector.

As a result, the majority of tow truck companies in Ontario are left paying thousands of dollars in monthly premiums when business is at an all-time low.

“Failure to reduce insurance premiums now for towers during the COVID-19 pandemic could have a catastrophic impact on their future viability and service,” said Mark Graves, president of the Provincial Towing Association of Ontario (PTAO).

The PTAO, which represents more than 180 towing and recovery companies in Ontario, has reached out to insurers as well as government officials and industry associations to address the hole in insurance relief.

The relief measures offered by Intact for commercial trucking clients – which include tow truck operators – include: premium adjustments for small and medium-sized businesses that are now closed or have seen business severely affected, premium adjustments for vehicles stored or used in different ways and suspending coverage for trucks and trailers while they are idle or parked.

Meanwhile, Aviva Canada announced in a letter on April 16 that commercial auto insurance policy holders could receive premium rebates if their vehicles have been taken off the road.

But Mr. Graves said a large percentage of tow truck operators do not qualify for a reduction in coverage because they finance their truck purchases and the leasing agreements do not allow them to remove insurance coverage even if they are parked.

As well, smaller companies are not able to simply park a portion of their fleet because each truck has a specialized purpose for towing different types of vehicles. Only large companies have multiple trucks for the same types of towing services.

Tow truck operator Mike Gassum, who owns North Algonquin Towing with his wife Tina Moore, found himself in the latter group. Based in Pembroke, Ont., he operates 11 trucks and trailers for the upper Ottawa Valley region, with each vehicle having different capabilities for towing and collisions.

Since the coronavirus lockdown began in mid-March, Mr. Gassum’s towing for small car and auto-club businesses has plummeted by 90 per cent. Earlier on March 8, Mr. Gassum renewed his annual insurance policy for $90,000. He paid the initial deposit of $12,000, as well as his first monthly payment of $6,900.

Then as the province began to shut down, non-commercial auto traffic rapidly came to a halt – declining between 80 per cent to 90 per cent. Mr. Gassum let go of two drivers and a mechanic and reached out to his insurance company to ask about relief measures.

“There was immediate drop in our service call volume and revenue,” Mr. Gassum said. “I knew I would be able to weather the storm short term – but the only thing threatening our viability, notwithstanding the $20,000 payment on the renewal, was the upcoming $6,900 payment for April.”

The only option he was given was to “park” some trucks to reduce insurance. But for a small rural company – where each truck fulfills a different role for towing – he doesn’t have the option to reduce his fleet.

In an e-mail to The Globe and Mail, Intact said tow operators should reach out to brokers to “discuss the available relief options such as flexible payments or deferrals, even if they are not parking vehicles.”

However, Mr. Graves says accumulating deferred expenses is not a solution and could “cripple tow operators’ sustainability in Ontario."

Insurance companies base premiums largely on the service calls that tow operators receive, and the risk factor associated with providing service for those calls, Mr. Graves said. With fewer calls, the reduced risk could be factored into offering premium reductions.

Insurers need to apply a ratio discount based on a company’s revenue stream, said Herb Vink, owner of Herb’s Towing and Recovery in Cornwall, Ont., who has experienced a 65-per-cent decline in business since COVID-19 – the largest drop he has seen in the 60-year history of the company.

“Insurers need to trim the shock to the industry where the volumes have decreased dramatically,” Mr. Vink said. “There is some permanency that is going to come out of this [pandemic] and we may not see business recover fully for 24 to 36 months.”

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LAKE CITY, Fla. – A husband and father of two girls in Lake City has died after contracting the novel coronavirus at age 31.

Mike Leedom died from the virus on Saturday. Records as of Thursday from the Florida Department of Health show he’s the youngest person to die in Northeast Florida after contracting the virus.

The sounds of sirens from nearly 100 first responders filled Lake City during a procession.

“He deserved it," said Jordan Little, a family member. “Everybody he met, period. Loved him.”

According to a GoFundMe page that’s raising funds for the family, Leedom was battling lupus and psoriatic arthritis.

Jordan and Megan Little said the virus took over quickly.

“He was sick for about a week but he passed within just a few days of the diagnosis,” Megan Little said.

Leedom’s wife posted on Facebook: “Mike Leedom, you were my world. You were my best friend. As long as I had you, I didn’t need anything else.”

According to Jordan Little, Leedom loved to fish, hunt and he loved music.

“But he didn’t love anything more than his babies -- his wife and his two little girls,” Jordan Little said. "Pray for his family because now his two little girls have to grow up without having their daddy there.”

Leedom was a tow truck driver, and his fellow tow truckers made a final call over a CB radio.

The 31-year-old’s family members are hoping his death will remind people to take the virus seriously and to continue taking precautions.

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Note: if anyone has a quality video of the Tow Truck Gathering in Memory of this Tow Operator Please Share it. Thanks

Tesla Cybertruck competitor Bollinger has a new electric pickup that can be customized for any kind of work use

The B2 Chassis Cab is based on the Bollinger’s flexible E-Chassis platform that can be equipped with front-, rear- or all-wheel-drive. Plus its wheelbase can also be adjusted to suit different body types. Battery sizes also range from 120-180 kWh and it comes with a 10 kW on-board charger.

Look at all of the possibilities.

• Bollinger has plans for an all-electric, chassis-cab truck platform.
• It can be used as a tow truck, a box truck, or a bucket truck.
• The possibilities are endless.
•  

The world needs more electric trucks. They're versatile, usable, customizable, they look cool - and because they don't run on fuel, they're even better.

And if you want an electric truck with endless possibilities for customization, Bollinger Motors' upcoming all-electric, chassis-cab truck platform might be what you're looking for.

It's called the Bollinger B2 Chassis Cab, and the company said in a Thursday announcement that it wants to sell the truck in late 2021. Both full-cab and cutaway-cab versions will be available.

Anyone can buy a B2 Chassis Cab - pedestrian casuals such as you and me, or people who need them for commercial purposes, like landscapers or construction workers.

Sure, it's not available yet. But we can dream.

The key piece in this plan is the all new B2 Chassis Cab which will be the world’s first Class 3 Commercial EV platform when it eventually goes into production. Built on the same Bollinger’s E-Chassis platform that also sees duty in the B1 and B2, the B2CC brings many of the same features that have helped make their mark in those models. We have listed them all here in this handy list below.

• Two-door or Four-door cab
• Various wheelbase lengths, based on desired customization
• Patent-pending passthrough for storage of long items
• 120 kWh battery pack
• All-wheel drivetrain
• All-terrain capabilities
• Dual motor
• Portal gear hubs
• 5,000 lb. payload
• Ultra-low center of gravity
• Hydraulic anti-lock power brakes (ABS)
• Electronic traction control
• Electronic stability control
• Hydraulic power steering
• Hydro-pneumatic self-leveling suspension
• Independent front and rear suspension
• 10kw on-board charger/inverter
• Complete power system controls, configurable to given vehicle application
• Integrated thermal-management system

However the key here is the sheer amount of flexibility that the B2CC brings to the table, with Bollinger claiming that it can easily morph into a wide range of roles. Bollinger showcased three of these potential roles in some of its images, with the B2 being shown as a traditional box truck, a tow truck, and even a flatbed layout. When combined with the multiple wheelbases that are available with the E-Chassis, as well as the two or four door cab layouts on hand, the B2CC could theoretically offer virtually unlimited work truck variants for commercial customers to choose from.

““The Bollinger B2 Chassis Cab’s unique features – including the 5,000-lb. payload and large energy source to power tools – make it perfect for businesses, small and large,” says CEO Robert Bollinger. “Commercial fleets will be able to reduce their overall cost of operation while buying a truck designed, engineered, and built in the USA. The B2CC is an ideal option for municipalities, parks services, emergency response vehicles, airports, construction, landscaping, electricians, plumbers, security, non-tactical military, and more.

Bollinger Motors claims that the Bollinger B2 Chassis Cab will begin rolling out to commercial outfitters in late 2021, with both cutaway and four door cab layouts being offered. It will be interesting to see how well received the B2CC is by the commercial sector, especially with companies that are used to using traditional gas powered benchmarks like the Ford Transit, Ram Promaster, and even the axed but still used Ford E-Series lineup.

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DRYDEN — Two men allegedly tried to cut through a fence and enter a Dryden tow truck business early Wednesday morning.

Chelan County sheriff’s deputies say they were called about 12:40 a.m. to Mountain Highway Towing for a report of two men prowling the lot. Dennis Linn Conner, 24, of Leavenworth and Terrence V. Stettner, 45, of Wenatchee were both arrested at the scene, allegedly carrying bolt cutters.

A judge released them on their own recognizance after a Chelan County court appearance Wednesday afternoon. Both face likely charges of second-degree burglary; deputies say Stettner was also carrying a small amount of methamphetamine.

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Memorials to honor tow truck driver killed on Merritt Parkway

https://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Memorials-to-honor-tow-truck-driver-killed-on-15233537.php

Couple Says Area 1 Towing Company Charged Them Exorbitant Fees Including ‘COVID-19’ Fee, Broke Other Promises

RESOURCE LINK with video

Gilroy nurse claims discrimination after AAA-affiliated tow company refused to aid her

https://www.thecalifornian.com/story/news/2020/04/29/california-nurse-says-aaa-contracted-tow-company-left-her-stranded/3033037001/

On Saturday April 25th, 2020 a Driver with Ben Gilbert Towing & Recovery, Coweta, Oklahoma was struck and killed by another vehicle while riding his motorcycle.

Ben Gilbert the owner of the company stated on 04.26.20: "This is Chris my driver he got killed yesterday on a motorcycle Prayers for him and his family.

BILLINGS, Mont. - Unfortunately, with families stuck at home and businesses being closed, it's not the ideal time to plan a birthday party. Luckily, local towing companies decided they wanted to help some Billings kids celebrate their special day.

Several towing companies have been putting their trucks to good use by driving to birthday parties, giving gifts, honking horns, flashing their lights and wishing local Billings kiddos a happy birthday.

Kris Moore, owner of Thin-Line Towing & Recovery, had the idea and says he understands it's not easy to have a birthday right now and wanted to brighten the day for those kids.

According to Kris, they have visited eight parties in the past week, with six to nine trucks from local companies like, Aaliby Towing and Billings Towing showing up at each event.

Kris says he doesn't want anyone missing out on their birthday, "Rather than sit there and saying oh well we were locked down for my birthday and I didn't get a party and stuff, I would rather them remember oh my birthday this year... a bunch of tow trucks went by honking with their lights going, it was a lot of fun, and that my only goal with it, I wanted the kids to have a memorable birthday in a positive way, rather than I missed my birthday because of everything else going on.", said Kris. 

Kris says all the towing companies involved have been enjoying helping Billings kids celebrate, and will continue to do so if there is a demand for it.

If you have a kiddo at home with a birthday coming up, reach out to Kris Moore at Thin-Line Towing & Recovery to book a drive by.

RESOURCE LINK

https://mailchi.mp/ctta/losing-an-industry-legend

https://mailchi.mp/ctta/losing-an-industry-legend

RIVERDALE, Ill. (CBS) — Two pedestrians are dead after a hit-and-run on I-57 near 138th Street Sunday morning.

The man and woman were outside their vehicle around 4:30 a.m. as it was loaded onto a tow truck when they were hit by a passing vehicle, according to Illinois State Police.

The 2018 white Toyota Camry that hit them stopped, but the people inside got out and fled the scene on foot. Troopers later learned that the vehicle was stolen.

State Police have not identified the deceased victims by name, but said they were a 35-year-old woman from Chicago and a 34-year-old man from Bolingbrook.

All lanes of I-57 northbound were closed for about six hours until shortly after 10 a.m. as troopers investigated.

The investigation is ongoing.

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Posted in memory of Ray Worm Bourgeois a tow truck operator with R & S Towing & Recovery, Chalmette, Louisiana

A Spirit Ride was held April 24th, 2020 in

This is a follow up with images related to the video posted in headlines today.

M8 recovery who we work closely with showing their support for our NHS heroes. A company that continually shuns publicity relating to their continued good deeds during the Covi 19 pandemic. The owner and employee's are some of the unsung heroes that seek no thanks or recognition, just a community supporting company that shows its appreciation any which way they can. These are the acts that make you believe there is hope for us all yet.

M8 recovery who we work closely with showing their support for our NHS heroes. A company that continually shuns publicity relating to their continued good deeds during the Covi 19 pandemic. The owner and employee's are some of the unsung heroes that seek no thanks or recognition, just a community supporting company that shows its appreciation any which way they can. These are the acts that make you believe there is hope for us all yet.

Hillington, United Kingdom