"I was thinking, I am going to die right here," said Tow Truck Driver Shawn Migdol.
It was 8 a.m. Thursday on Interstate 77. "When I heard those breaks, I was already on the ground. It happened so fast," said Migdol.
Migdol was doing a favor for a friend, whose vehicle was on the side of the highway. "I was helping a friend, I technically wasn't working, and I got blasted," he said.
The 37-year-old said he climbed out of the passenger side door, his lights were flashing, and he was wearing his bright yellow safety vest. That's when a 16-year-old driver hit his friend's disabled vehicle on the side of the road and caused a chain reaction, Migdol said.
"I was under the vehicle, looking up at the muffler. I thought I'm going to die right here," he explained.
Migdol was lucky. He survived with a broken shoulder, broken foot, several broken bones, and a dislocated shoulder.
Now, from his hospital bed, he is urging drivers to obey Ohio's Move Over Law. The law requires drivers approaching any vehicles with flashing or rotating lights, parked on the side of the road to move over to an adjacent lane or slow down.
"You hear, sometimes, about police officers being hit by a passing car. But, I don't think people get how serious it is. I'm very fortunate to be alive, " he added.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol recently had an enforcement and awareness campaign focused on the Move Over Law. In 2017, nearly 600 drivers have been cited for not following the law.
