Tow Truck Driver Hit and Killed While Working On Turner Turnpike

Friends and coworkers are heartbroken after a tow truck driver was hit and killed while working on the side of the Turner Turnpike. 

They say Donovan Knippenburg was an incredible man, and they wish people understood the dangers of the job. Valarie Hinshaw says it's hard to put into words what Donovan Knippenburg meant to her, but she will make

sure he is remembered.

Knippenburg worked for Valarie Hinshaw at A-WOW Recovery and Towing for almost seven years.

"He'd do anything for anybody, give the shirt off his back," she said. 

Oklahoma Highway Patrol says Donovan was hit and killed late Friday night on the Turner Turnpike near Kellyville. Valarie says he was out of his truck and working to move a car off the turnpike when he was hit.

"When our lights are on, we're there to get the vehicle out of the way, and to open the roadway, so we are considered first responders," Hinshaw said. 

She says her team is heartbroken Donovan is gone, and he's going to be missed.

Valarie says he was a one-of-a-kind personality, who was always making people laugh.

She says wreckers risk their lives every time they respond to a call.

"When you lose someone close on our team, it really hits home, and it makes me think and I see people on the roadway, and I want to tell them, whoa move over, even if I'm just passing another wrecker, I'm moving over," she said. 

She says she feels hopeless when she sees people who break the law by not moving over when a wrecker is on the side of the road.

She wants people to realize how much Donovan's loss has hurt them and his family. 

"No one will ever understand the importance of moving over I guess until it hits them personally," she said. 

Oklahoma Highway Patrol says the cause of the crash is under investigation.