IT IS A WAR ZONE
OUT THERE: DOZENS OF TOW TRUCKS CIRCLE
BELTWAY IN MEMORY OF DRIVER KILLED IN DECEMBER
These were the sounds of the mourning song for Hicham
“AJ” Najdi: The sharp blasts of pickup trucks’ horns. The long bellows of
flatbeds. The sputtering and rumbling of dozens and dozens of engines.
Najdi, a Fairfax County tow truck operator, was killed
by a motorist who veered onto the shoulder of the Capital Beltway on Dec. 29,
striking him. On Sunday, more than 140 tow truck operators drove around a large
portion of the Beltway to honor his memory and attempt to prevent similar
crashes.
“The red-and-blue lights are more respected than the
amber lights out there,” said Richard Webster Jr., the Northern Virginia
regional trainer for the Virginia Department of Transportation.
Webster, a former tow truck driver, said that many
drivers know state law requires them to move to the left if possible when a
police car is stopped on the shoulder. But Virginia expanded
the law to include tow trucks in 2010, and many drivers are not aware of that.
To inform them, tow truck drivers from around the region
formed a caravan Sunday. More than 140 vehicles — wheel lifts, massive boom
trucks and more — drove a route longer than 60 miles.
Hicham “AJ” Najdi's son, Josh Sylvia-Najdi, 18, and Najdi's sister, Zakia, comfort each other at the rally. AJ Najdi “was the definition of hardworking,” Sylvia-Najdi said. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)
The first truck in the parade was a long flatbed
carrying a smaller white Fairfax Towing and Recovery truck — the vehicle Najdi,
45, of Centreville, was using the day he was killed. He was on foot on the side
of the road, picking up a car with a flat tire near the Route 7 exit in Fairfax
County.
Truck driver Anthony B. Custis of Baltimore was charged with reckless driving for allegedly
veering onto the shoulder and hitting Najdi. Virginia State Police said that
Custis was holding a cellphone — which is illegal for commercial vehicle
operators in Virginia — at the time of the crash and that his truck had faulty
brakes.
Fairfax Towing has 18 vehicles and 20 employees. Owner
Kris Gilbert said he was hoping an additional 20 to 30 trucks might come to the
memorial. As more and more trucks — many from southern Virginia — poured into
the parking lot of Fairfax High School, where the ride began, Gilbert was
overwhelmed.
“We’re all competitors,” he said to the assembled
drivers before the ride began. “But at the end of the day, we’re one big
family.”
Grace Najdi, AJ Najdi’s sister, said that Sunday’s event
was just the sort of demonstration he would have called to tell her about. “He
picked up accidents,” she said. “So he would always tell us, ‘I don’t ever want
to see you texting and driving. I don’t ever want to see you be reckless.’ ”
Josh Sylvia-Najdi, the oldest of Najdi’s three children,
said his father immigrated from Morocco when he was about 18, Josh’s age now.
AJ was determined to send money back to Morocco for family there.
“He was the definition of hardworking,” Sylvia-Najdi
said.
About 150 tow truck drivers loop the Beltway in Tyson’s Corner near where Hicham “AJ” Najdi was struck and killed Dec. 29. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)
Sylvia-Najdi climbed on the back of a truck to address
the crowd of drivers before they set off on their drive, which took them onto
Interstate 66 West to the Beltway, north to Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring,
then all the way back on the Beltway to Interstate 95, which they took south to
Woodbridge.
“Any of you who are dads, or family members, or friends
— no one should have to suffer any tragedy like this,” Sylvia-Najdi said,
encouraging them to raise awareness of the move-over law.
Gilbert asked those at the event to contact their
legislators to ask for a sustained public awareness campaign and stiffer penalties
for offenders. “That is 100 percent what I’m dedicated to after this,” he said.
The International Towing and Recovery Hall of Fame and
Museum in Chattanooga, Tenn., maintains a memorial wall for tow truck drivers
killed on the road. In 2014, it added 28 names.
The drivers at the event Sunday said they already knew
that their job hazardous. Even many who did not know Najdi personally
contributed to an online fundraiser for
his children, which has raised nearly $11,000. At a lunch after the memorial
drive, they put cash contributions in a bottle.
Gilbert announced a fundraising raffle of items
contributed by the American Towing and Recovery Institute, and J.J. Redman
immediately pulled a $100 bill out of his wallet to buy tickets.
Redman, whose family owns a towing company in Lorton,
said he was shaken by Najdi’s death. “It’s 100 percent on your mind. You always
have to watch your back,” he said. “If you get complacent out there, it’ll be
the end of you. People just don’t care about you on the side of the road.”
Doug Johnson, 49, of D.J.’s Towing in Woodbridge, said
he was hit by a church bus in 2005 while working at an accident site. His hip
and an arm and a leg were broken.
After recovering, he went back to work. “We’re out there
every day, and nobody respects us, and nobody cares about us until they need
us,” he said.
Craig Clem, 44, came to the memorial from Stephens City,
south of Winchester, where he said his family has run a towing company for 70
years. He started working for the business when he was 16. Now he has two
children working for the company — and a younger son, 12, who is becoming aware
of just how dangerous the family business is.
His son heard about the crash that killed Najdi. News of
a tow truck driver’s death filled him with fear.
“He called me the second it happened, to see if it was
me,” Clem said. “He wants his dad to come home.”
Clem came home that day. And he brought his young son
with him Sunday to ride around the Beltway to pay tribute to a father who
didn’t.