HARRISON - State police are seeking the public's help in finding the driver who struck and killed a tow-truck operator assisting with a disabled vehicle on I-95 north this morningThursday, Dec. 29, 2016.

State Police said the tow-truck operator, 32-year-old Salvatore Brescia, was out of his flatbed truck, tending to a disabled minivan, when he was hit by another car at 6:53 a.m. The driver who struck him left the scene.

The minivan operator was attempting to get into the passenger side door of the tow truck, which was locked, at the time of the impact, Investigator Joseph Becerra said. He heard the collision, went around the truck and saw Brescia lying in the road. A passer-by also stopped immediately to try to assist, Becerra said.

REMEMBERING SAL Fiancee remembers "Smiley," the 32-year-old tow-truck driver killed on Thursday.

Trooper John Finaro said Brescia was alive but had sustained "very serious injuries" when he was transported to the hospital. He was pronounced dead about 8:15 a.m.

Vincent Service Station in Mamaroneck handles service calls on Interstate 95. A man who answered the phone there confirmed that one of the company's drivers had been killed in the accident, but deferred other questions to the station's owner, who he said was in Florida and unavailable.

Police said Brescia was from Yonkers; however, his social media profile on Facebook indicates he had been living in Stamford, Connecticut. An online registry indicates he was planning a marriage for July.

By midday Thursday, the Vincent Facebook page bore the following note:

"The Vincent Service family mourns today for the loss of one of our own. Sal was not only an extremely talented and hard working young man, but an incredible and invaluable friend/brother. Our heavy hearts reach out to his family. In a time like this no words give much relief to the pain, but just know Sal's second family here at Vincent Service will ALWAYS hold him close to our hearts and will ALWAYS be here to support those touched by the loss. Nothing could be said here to appropriately describe how much he is loved. Thank you to everybody reaching out and showing support.

"Please remember just how precious our time here is and hold your loved ones close. We are truly blessed to have all of you in our corner. May he forever rest in peace."

New York State Police troopers and emergency vehicles shut the northbound highway just north of West Street after the crash, and permitted only a trickle of traffic through the active investigation scene for hours. The roadway was reopened in full by 10:30 a.m.

There are no surveillance cameras on that stretch of the New England Thruway, Finaro said, which will make things difficult for troopers trying to locate the driver who struck the tow truck operator. Becerra said police are trying to determine if there is any video available from nearby properties, and are looking for drivers who were headed northbound or southbound at that time who may have seen anything.

Becerra said New York State Crime Stoppers is also offering up to a $2,500 reward in the case for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible.

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Anyone with information regarding this collision is asked to contact the state police in Tarrytown at 845-727-2280 or the state police in Hawthorne's Bureau of Criminal Investigation at 914-769-2600. Crime Stoppers can be reached at 1-866-313-TIPS.

Drivers are required to use extra care, and slow down, when they see vehicles with emergency lights on on all roads and highways.

New York's Move Over Law, which went into effect in 2011, was initially designed to protect law-enforcement officers and emergency workers from this very kind of accident. Effective in 2012, it was amended to include tow-truck drivers. More recently, similar protections for garbage- and recycling-truck drivers were added.

Becerra said in most cases when a vehicle breaks down on a major highway, state police are called and will stand by while a tow truck operator works, or direct a highway assistance truck to the scene to do the same. However, in this case the driver whose minivan had broken down had called his insurance company, which called out the tow truck directly.

Still, Becerra said the tow truck operator had illuminated his amber lights while assisting the driver in this case, and although the sun was not out, it was dawn - not dark - and the roads were dry. Traffic was "light to moderate" at the time, he said.

On multi-lane highways such as Interstate 95, the State Police website advises: "when approaching an emergency vehicle that displays red and/or white emergency lighting or a hazard vehicle displaying flashing amber lighting, drivers must move from the lane immediately adjacent to the emergency or hazard vehicle, unless traffic or other hazards exist to prevent doing so safely."

"It's obvious this person didn't obey (the 'Move Over' law)," Becerra said. "The victim was struck either on the shoulder or close to the right hand lane."