As reckless driver gets 4.5 years for killing Fairfield tow truck operator; family pushes for better enforcement of ‘Move Over’ law

Immediately after a father of two was sentenced to prison for recklessly killing a Fairfield tow truck driver with his car, the victim’s family made a plea on the courthouse steps Thursday for tougher enforcement of the “Move Over” law.

“The death of my brother was tragic and avoidable. When Corey died, everybody was shocked,” Cindy Iodice told reporters and camera crews outside Bridgeport Superior Court. “Eleven days ago, Chris Russell, a tow operator in North Haven, was struck and killed. It outraged the community that this could happen again.”

Cindy Iodice, accompanied by safety advocates and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, said traumatic deaths like those of Iodice and Russell are far too common — and all because so many highway drivers are ignoring basic safety laws.

After her brother was killed along a highway in Trumbull while helping a motorist in 2020, Cindy Iodice founded Flagman, a nonprofit working to establish national public awareness and education campaigns to reduce struck-by-vehicle injuries and fatalities nationwide.

The organization held the press conference to emphasize that Dean Robert had just minutes earlier become the first driver punished with a $10,000 fine under Connecticut’s Move Over law, which was passed in 2009.

The main penalty — 10.5 years in prison, suspended after 4.5 years — was for Robert’s guilty plea to second-degree manslaughter, driving under the influence and reckless driving.

The Iodice family, which runs a third-generation towing business in Fairfield, was devastated when Corey, 58, was killed by Robert’s speeding BMW, relatives said. They’ve followed the prosecution of Robert and had long been preparing to address the court at his sentencing on Thursday.

But on May 21, they were stunned along with the rest of Connecticut’s towing community when a car hit and killed Russell, a 38-year-old tow truck trying to help a stranded motorist along I-91 in North Haven. Several tow drivers and safety advocates lamented that Iodice’s death hadn’t changed motorists’ behavior.

“Too often we witness flagrant disregard for safety when drivers are reckless on our roadways, distracted, under the influence, over tired and, most egregiously, with negligent indifference,” Chief Denis McCarthy of the Fairfield Fire Department told reporters.

Iodice, a longtime driver for his family’s Fairfield-based towing business, had stopped near exit 47 of the Meritt Parkway in Trumbull to help a disabled motorist.

He was standing on the back of his truck preparing to move the sedan onto the flatbed when Robert’s speeding, out-of-control car hit two other cars, then careened up the flatbed ramp and slammed into Iodice, according to police.

The crash knocked Iodice’s truck onto its side, and threw Iodice more than 30 feet. Robert’s car landed on its roof more than 100 feet away. Prosecutors said in court Thursday that Robert had been driving 86 to 93 mph in afternoon rush hour traffic and that a test three hours after the crash put his blood alcohol content level at 0.099. The legal limit is 0.08.

In court Thursday, Chris Iodice told Judge Tracy Dayton that Robert deserved a stiff sentence for killing his brother.

“I can’t imagine the fear or the pain my brother went through in those last seconds,” he said. “I am angry and full of so much sadness. Nothing about that day was an accident.”

Glaring toward the defense table, he told Robert, “You chose to go drive recklessly. You had absolutely no regard for anybody else on the road that day.”

Robert faced the Iodice family for several minutes and wept as he delivered a lengthy apology, conceding he was entirely at fault.

“My actions were reckless, senseless ... unacceptable,” he said. “I have no excuses for what I did. None. Every day I put myself in your shoes.”

Relatives, a friend and his minister all offered support for Robert, describing him as a community volunteer in Weston, and a dedicated father and husband with no criminal record. They said that drinking and reckless driving were out of character for him.

“There are absolutely no winners here. This is terrible,” Judge Dayton said. “He did not intend to kill anybody that day. That doesn’t change anything for the victim’s family.”

Afterward, Cindy Iodice said her family’s goal is to make drivers more aware of the need to obey Move Over laws — and to get police to beef up enforcement.

Adopted in 2009, Connecticut’s Move Over law requires motorists to slow and — if safe — shift lanes to leave a buffer once they see a stopped police car, fire truck, ambulance, state highway truck, tow truck or utility crew on the road or shoulder.

Blumenthal said he will talk with the federal transportation department about how to strengthen state Move Over laws, and to determine if federal legislation is feasible.

“This is something that can literally save lives,” he said.