Tow truck driver killed in crash remembered

MOREHEAD, Ky. (WKYT) - The Morehead community is mourning the loss of Troy Caldwell, a beloved tow truck driver, who was killed on I-64 in Bath Co. Wednesday evening.

The 54-year-old died after being struck by a commercial vehicle while working near mile marker 124. The driver of that vehicle has been arrested and faces charges of evidence tampering.

Now, Caldwell’s loved ones remember him as a man who was always there for others.

“You never passed him on the road where he didn’t throw his hand up and a few minutes later he’d call you and he was just a really upstanding guy, he loved what he did,” said Bubba Johnson, a fellow tow truck driver.

Johnson said he has known Troy Caldwell for years, and said Troy was someone people in the tow truck industry could count on to do the right thing.

“He was Mr. Safety’, I mean he was always double checking and re-checking, always decked out in fluorescent gear, I mean he was the one you’d want to be the front man for your safety meeting,” said Johnson.

“Troy’s just a nice guy, always willing to do anything that you asked him to do. He’d go above and beyond on accident scenes, so it’s just a tough loss for everybody,” said Chief Derrick Blevins with the Morehead State Police Department.

More of the details of what led up to this deadly accident have been realized, and now have led to charges against the person authorities say hit Troy.

Twenty-nine-year-old Shodmon Yudalshev from Brooklyn, New York, has been charged with tampering with physical evidence in connection with the crash.

Officers say Yudalshev was watching YouTube at the time of the crash, then tried to turn off the tablet and hide it during inspection.

In an already dangerous line of work, Johnson said the loss of Caldwell makes it more difficult to get up and go back to work.

“It makes it harder as the tow operator to go out on a next call when you know a friend of yours has had their life taken on a call that’s identical to the one you’re going on,” said Johnson.