A tow truck driver struck while doing his job is dead. New York State Police say he was the victim of an alleged drunk driving accident early Wednesday morning on the Niagara section of the Thruway.
It happened shortly before 5 A.M. on the I-190 south in the Town of Tonawanda, just south of the I-290 interchange.
Police say the tow truck driver was removing an abandoned car from the right shoulder of the road when he was hit by a car. That car then went airborne, rolling over twice, coming to rest on its roof.
The tow truck operator, Kevin Coffta, 28, of Grand Island, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver of the car, David Brown, 64, of Cheektowaga, is charged with vehicular manslaughter and DWI.
The southbound lanes of the I-190 in that area are now reopen after being shut down for nearly 5 hours while the accident scene was being cleaned up.
+1. He’s thinking going out drinking then driving is the same as buying a gun and then killing someone. The huge legal difference is INTENT.
I would like to see them take the depraved indifference angle to pursue more DWI fatalities as murder II though. If you’re way over the limit that constitutes depraved indifference in my book. It wouldn’t be the first time they’ve done it.
i second the motion. a friend of mine was hit by an off-duty cheektowaga cop when she was 16. he was on his way home from the Bills game hammered with a six pack open in the car with him and hit her head on. the cops that arrived at the scene didn’t do a damn thing, didn’t write anything in the report and never arrested him for DWI… Thats Bullsh!t