Tow Truck Convoy Honors Fallen Driver DJ Ortiz

Horns blared and lights flashed as approximately 200 tow trucks from across the East Coast formed a solemn convoy Tuesday to honor Daniel “DJ” Ortiz, a 24-year-old tower struck and killed on Route 287 while assisting a disabled vehicle.

Trucks gathered at Leber Lakeside Funeral Home on Landing Road in Roxbury, New Jersey before making the 23-mile journey east on Route 80 to Gate of Heaven Cemetery in East Hanover. Ortiz, a driver for Ron & Sons Towing of Kenvil, was killed July 2 when a passing Jeep struck him on the shoulder of Route 287 southbound in Harding Township.

The procession included nearly 50 trucks from Ron & Sons, and rigs from as far as Maine, Ohio, and South Carolina. It highlighted the everyday risks towers face and renewed calls for drivers to obey New Jersey’s Move Over Law.

Among the onlookers in Landing was Amy Breault of Budd Lake, whose son also tows for Ron & Sons. “I was horrified,” she said. “I kept telling him I loved him.”

A crane hoisted a large American flag above the parked trucks near the funeral home. A fundraiser for Ortiz’s family has raised more than $46,000. Source: https://www.dailyrecord.com