Centre County tow truck operator victim in Saturday night Interstate 80 accident in Greene Township

LOGANTON, PA – The Pennsylvania Towing Association has released the identity and expressed condolences to the family of the tow truck operator killed in an accident on Interstate 80 in Clinton County Saturday night. The Association said the victim was Jim Corl of Valley Truck and Trailer of State College.

Corl lost his life while assisting a disabled rig along Interstate 80 in Greene Township.

State police issued a preliminary report to say the tow truck operator was fatally injured and the driver of a vehicle involved in the accident had to be removed from that vehicle after it caught fire. Authorities as of Sunday morning had not released the identities of those involved. They said the crash shut down I-80 for a significant amount of time for their investigation and site clean-up.

Per the state police report:

“Unit 1 was traveling east on Interstate 80 in the right lane. Unit 2, a tow company that was removing a disabled semi-trailer was parked on the south berm of Interstate 80. Unit 1 traveled off the south berm and impacted the rear portion of Unit 2 with the front portion of Unit 1. The tow truck driver was outside Unit 2 at the time and fatally injured. Unit 1 then caught fire and Operator 1 was removed from Unit 1 by bystanders. Operator 1 was transported to Lock Haven Hospital for treatment.”

Time of the accident was Saturday at 11:33 p.m., the site I-80 mile-marker 184.9. The police report said site clean-up was provided by Bressler’s Towing and authorities were assisted at the scene by multiple fire companies and PennDOT. Police said their investigation is ongoing.