On January 11th, 2019 my friend Jesse “Bil” Hettmann was killed while providing aid to a disabled motorist. He was a tow truck driver and he was on the side of the road with his warning lights engaged, when he was struck by an oncoming vehicle. He was killed instantly. As a reminder, please move over for stopped emergency vehicles so senseless tragedies like this can be avoided.
Monday night heavy duty trucks from across northeast Wisconsin made their way down I-41 in honor of Jesse.
“It’s terrible, a young man in the prime of his life, wife and two children. It doesn’t get any more tragic than this really,” says Lawrence Fire Department chief Kurt Minten.
This wasn’t your typical memorial.
What started as a facebook event turned into a huge motorcade.
“This is overwhelming, we just feel such gratitude for the outpouring that we have received since Jesse was killed on Friday,” says Jesse’s mother Linda Hettmann.
Jesse worked for Glenn’s Towing and was removing a stalled vehicle from the roadway when he was hit by an oncoming car.
“When you’re out on the highway, any road and you see any flashing lights, police officer, a wrecker, fire truck and ambulance, you need to slow down and move over,” says Minten. “Unfortunately this incident the driver did do that, it just was a very terrible accident is what it really was.”
“Slow down, move over,” says Hettmann. “You know all of these guys and gals want to go home at night and I don’t want to see another family go through what we’re going through. It’s very painful.”
Truckers and drivers were able to donate to the family as they drove in, which seemed like and endless parade of heavy duty vehicles.
“We’re all one big family, the towing family is just as important as the police, fire, EMS.”
While jesse died tragically his family says the community support is just what they need to get through this time.
“You go through feeling just numb and then this happens and it’s such a positive outcome for this,” says Hettmann. “So all I can just say is thank you to everyone involved with this and for everybody here. It’s amazing.”
Jesse did leave behind a wife and two little girls.
To donate to the family visit https://www.gofundme.com/hettmannfamily.
