Tow truck tragedy on Route 287 sparks outrage: ‘He should still be here’

✅Tow truck driver Daniel Ortiz, 24, was killed while helping a stranded driver

✅Jeep driver charged 10 months later for reckless vehicular homicide

✅Employer calls death 'preventable,' urges drivers to slow down and move over

HARDING — Charges have been filed 10 months after a tow-truck driver was struck and killed on Route 287 by a Jeep that flipped over and landed on its roof.

On July 2, Daniel "DJ" Ortiz, 24, of Hopatcong, was assisting a broken-down Honda on the southbound right shoulder near Exit 31 (Route 124). A Jeep SUV came down the shoulder and struck both vehicles plus Ortiz's flatbed, on which he was loading the Honda. Ortiz was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Pierre Innocent, 54, of Orange, is now charged with second-degree reckless vehicular homicide in violation of Eileen's Law, which says that failure to maintain a lane is evidence of reckless driving, according to Morris County Prosecutor Robert J. Carroll.

Innocent was released under pre-trial supervision level two. The terms of the release require Innocent to surrender his passport and sign a waiver of extradition. He cannot operate a motor vehicle or have contact with Ortiz's family.

Carroll did not disclose what caused Innocent to leave his lane.

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Company blasts preventable death

Ortiz's Roxbury-based employer, Ron & Sons Towing, expressed anger at the decision. On the company's Facebook page, he called Ortiz's death "preventable" and an "unavoidable tragedy" as drivers know the shoulder is the place where tow operators, first responders and emergency workers are supposed to have some protection from not only Eileen's Law but the Move Over Law.

"Every single driver knows the shoulder is dangerous. Every single driver knows that when emergency lights are flashing, you slow down and move over. That law exists because people like DJ are out there risking their lives for strangers every single day," the company said.

"Slow down. Move over. Pay attention. Because DJ should still be here."

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