Morris tower saves life of DOT worker

Quick action by a Parsippany tow-truck driver helped to save the life of a New Jersey Department of Transportation worker critically injured on Wednesday when he was run over by a car on Route 80 in Saddle Brook, according to the New Jersey State Police.

Richard Growe, 25, was transporting a vehicle from Parsippany to Hackensack on a Powder Mill Towing flatbed truck Tuesday when he came upon a horrific accident scene — a DOT employee working on a debris-removal detail had just been run over by a car on a highway overpass.

“I was going down Route 80 when I see whole bunch of DOT workers running down the highway looking over the bridge,” Growe told the Daily Record. “I kept on going and saw the accident. As these guys were looking over the bridge to see if he fell over, I saw the guy pinned under the car.”

Growe joined a group of “good Samaritans” who also stopped to help several minutes before police arrived on the scene, but they were unsuccessful in tying to lift the car off the unconscious victim.

“It was a mess, the guy was under the car bleeding head to toe,” Growe said. “All broken legs, broken bones. I said ‘Hold on, let me use my truck.’ ”

Growe extended a hydraulic “stinger” tow bar under the Chevrolet Malibu to lift it off the man, also freeing his head, which was pinned between the front passenger-side tire and a concrete barrier.

“At that point, the first State Trooper got there,” Growe said. “One of the good Samaritans took his shirt off to tie up some of the wounds, because he was bleeding everywhere.”

Other police and emergency workers arriving at the scene praised Growe for his heroic efforts.

“One said a lot of guys would have just kept going,” Growe said. “But if I wasn’t there, how would this car get off the ground to get this guy out of there? The cops would have had to call another truck. Between all the traffic, who knows how long that would have taken?”

Growe said he was acting on adrenalin-fueled instinct.

“I’ve seen some bad accidents but not like this,” he said. “My heart was going 200 miles an hour. I just did what I had to do.”

He also did his job and completed his delivery.

“It got there three hours late, but it got there,” he said.

Later that evening, he accepted more praise from the victim’s family.

“The family looked me up on Facebook,” he said. “The wife, a lot of cousins, a brother, sister-in-law. They all messaged me, thanking me throughout the night. I was trying to sleep but I kept waking up because I had so much energy from the whole thing.”

The family of the victim, identified by State Police as Carmine De Somma, 39, of Lodi, told Growe that De Somma had been placed in an induced coma, and faced several surgeries, but they were hopeful he would pull through.

Sgt. Jeffrey Flynn said Thursday that De Somma was listed in critical but stable condition at Hackensack University Medical Center.

“The trooper who responded to the scene said that (Growe’s) actions “were crucial to saving that man’s life,” Flynn said.

“NJDOT is truly grateful for the heroic action not only of the other NJDOT crew members, but particularly of the actions of tow-truck driver Richard Growe and the other two good Samaritans — a volunteer EMT and a former fireman — who came to the aid of an NJDOT worker after he was struck by a car on I-80,” DOT spokesperson Stephen Schapiro said. “Their quick action helped free the injured worker from underneath the car, expediting the care he received.”

According to the police report, Jalil Jones, 38, of Prospect Park, was driving the Malibu when he attempted to pass the three-truck DOT debris-removal detail, which was in “slowdown mode” in the right lane to protect De Somma and other workers removing debris on the busy interstate.

Jones moved from the center-right lane to the right lane in an “attempt to pass” the detail, Flynn said, when he entered the shoulder, hit the concrete barrier, struck a DOT truck and hit the barrier again before hitting another DOT truck and eventually stopping with De Somma’s body pinned underneath.

Jones also was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center, where he was treated and released. He was issued summonses for reckless driving, improper passing, failure to wear a seat belt and failure to make repairs. The accident is still under investigation.

“It is important to remind motorists of New Jersey’s Move Over Law, which requires motorists to move over if it is safe to do so when they approach an emergency vehicle or construction vehicles stopped or working on the side of the road,” Schapiro added. “We strongly urge motorists to observe the law and give police, EMS and our NJDOT maintenance workers a full lane-width of space if it’s available wherever they encounter first-responders and roadway workers. With high volumes of traffic often moving at high rates of speed, that extra space can help save a life.”

Growe was back at work Thursday morning, and hopes to meet De Somma and family when he is back on his feet.

“(The family) said they would keep me updated, and they want to get together and thank me in person,” Growe said.

Growe has been working for about a year at Powder Mill Towing in Parsippany, which has been in business for nearly 30 years and provides towing for local customers as well as highway towing for several Morris County police departments with 16 trucks.

Staff Writer William Westhoven: 973-917-9242; wwesthoven@GannettNJ.com.