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Towing company owner makes safety his mission after another driver hit on side of the road

Posted at 5:39 PM, Sep 17, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-17 17:39:18-04

Dennis Brewer has been in the towing business for more than a half century.  

He has made it his mission to make sure drivers working on the side of the road are safe. He worked with the legislature on the Move Over Law.  

Drivers must move over a lane when first responders are on the shoulder.  

Brewer made sure tow truck drivers were part of that. It is a $500 fine.

His driver, Eric Downs, was hit at 3 am Sunday on State Road.  The impact was so hard, Downs went over the top of a car and landed behind it, but survived.  

It was a hit and run.  

The only description he could give is an older sedan, possibly coming from Saline.

In May, Nader Chedhadi was killed while working on a school bus on the side of I-94 in Pittsfield Township.  

Michael Johnson was another driver killed ten years ago, also along I-94 - almost exactly on the opposite side of the freeway.

Brewer says distracted drivers and those who don’t move over need to learn this is serious business.  

He just got back from Tennessee and a special ceremony for tow truck drivers killed within the last year.  That number this year was 21. Two were from Michigan.  

Their names go onto a permanent memorial.