While on her way home from work one day, Misty Wright had seen her fiancé working alongside his tow truck as cars continued flying by him. It gave her chills.
“Misty, don’t worry. They keep us safe,” Toby Bowden told her that night. “Don’t you worry. I’ll be fine.”
Two weeks later, Bowden, who served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps before embarking on a career serving his community, died on the job. Investigators say he was killed when a drunk driver struck him while he was trying to tow a disabled vehicle from a crash scene on I-85 in Coweta County. He was 49.
Their wedding was planned for Sept. 17 and Wright had already bought her dress and booked a photographer, caterer and florist. The couple had been together for 15 years. Bowden also is survived by a son.
“He walked out the door to go to work. We actually had coffee together that morning,” Wright said. “He’ll never walk back through the door again.”
Around 7 a.m. on March 15, Coweta County deputies were assisting the State Patrol with a crash at mile marker 40 when Bowden was hit, the sheriff’s office said. The GSP trooper was standing next to the tow truck driver and suffered injuries that were not life-threatening.
“The troopers’ investigation revealed the left lane and left side emergency lane were blocked by two fire engines with their emergency lights activated assisting with a crash that had previously occurred,” the State Patrol said in a statement. “A tow truck driver, who was assisting with the previous crash, was standing on the left side emergency lane north of the fire engines.”
Investigators say the driver of a 2006 Honda Civic, 31-year-old Christopher Thornton, swerved to the right to avoid striking the fire engines and lost control of the car. The Honda began rotating counterclockwise toward the left side emergency lane, where it struck Bowden. He died at the scene, the State Patrol said.
Thornton was arrested on an outstanding warrant, investigators said. He was also charged with first-degree vehicular homicide, Move Over Law violation, reckless driving, driving under the influence, failure to maintain lane and driving too fast for conditions, the State Patrol said.
Wright said the crash site where Bowden was working was blocked off and should have been visible to drivers. Thornton also hit a fire truck before he killed Bowden, according to Wright.
Georgia’s “Move Over” law requires drivers to move over one lane when possible if an emergency vehicle with flashing lights is parked on the shoulder of the highway, according to the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. If it isn’t possible to move over safely, the law requires drivers to slow down below the posted speed limit and be prepared to stop.
Days after Bowden’s funeral, tragedy struck the towing community again. This time it was on the I-85 loop entrance about 50 miles north.
At approximately 12:25 a.m. on March 27, Troy Simon, 41, of Duluth and his tow truck were hit, according to the State Patrol. Troyvarius Crumedy, 22, from Stonecrest was arrested and charged with DUI, serious injury by vehicle, failure to maintain lane, no proof of insurance and driving too fast for conditions, according to investigators. Crumedy is currently free on bond, Fulton County jail records show.
Simon also is survived by the woman he was engaged to marry, according to a GoFundMe page.
“Troy was taken from us suddenly and his family and myself are left to pick up the pieces,” Ashley Williams, Simon’s fiancée, posted on the fundraising site. “Troy was a loving, caring, and overall great person and anyone who met him would have nothing but good things to say about him.”
According to the motor club AAA, an average of 24 emergency responders including tow providers are struck and killed by vehicles each year.
“Deaths like these can be avoided if drivers slow down and move over to give these people room to work safely,” said AAA president and CEO Marshall Doney. “We can’t stress enough how important it is to pay attention so you have time to change lanes when you see AAA, an emergency responder, or simply anybody along the side of the road.”
Pam Cline, who owns Cline’s Towing with her husband, has been in the towing business for 20 years and has seen an increase in dangerous driving. One of her company’s drivers escaped serious injury after a motorist nearly hit him in Paulding County, she said.
“Obviously it has always been dangerous. It’s part of the trade,” said Cline, who didn’t employ either of the two men killed recently. “But in the last several years, it’s much worse. It’s not just the interstates. It’s ridiculous how people drive. The people just do not get over. Nor do they slow down.”
Within the last month, metro Atlanta police cars were struck by drivers, though the officers weren’t hurt.
In early March, a Sandy Springs police officer narrowly escaped injury when a driver on I-285 smashed into his parked patrol car as he worked a separate wreck, officials said. A week later, a driver slammed into a Clayton County police car but managed to miss two officers already working a crash, the department said.
As she planned Bowden’s funeral, Wright said she was also forced to put down his dog, Blue, who had recently suffered a stroke. About a month earlier, the couple had also said goodbye to another dog, Brody, she said.
Both dogs were cremated, Wright said, and their ashes tucked into the casket of the man she planned to marry.
“They have each other,” she said.
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