LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — It has been 2 years since a tow truck driver was hit and killed while working along the 215 freeway. The community came together Thursday to honor him while also encouraging others to stay safe.
“He lived for saving people,” Ryan Billotte’s widow, Rebecca Billotte said of him Thursday. “He cared about everyone, he loved his church; he loved country music.”
The 48-year-old was working along the 215 near South Decatur Boulevard on March 9, 2021, when police said another driver hit him and left the scene.
“For him to see all this,” Rebecca Billotte said. “He would be shocked on the impact he made.”
Rebecca Billotte joined dozens of other friends, family, tow truck drivers, and law enforcement to remember Ryan at Nevada State Police Headquarters, while also promoting Nevada’s Move Over law.
“Ryan is an example, unfortunately of the result,” Nevada State Police Trooper Ashlee Wellman said. “Of somebody not moving over.”
Trooper Wellman called Thursday’s gathering an opportunity to share the importance of the law, which requires drivers to move to the far-left lane whenever anyone is pulled over on the side of the highway.
“We want you to see us, we want you to slow down,” Trooper Wellman said. “Because we want to go home to our families at the end of the day.”
Rebecca told 8 News Now she will never stop encouraging others to stay safe, just one of many ways to continue her late husband’s legacy.
“If you see those flashing lights, you need to move over,” Rebeca concluded. “If you can’t at least slow down.”
Nevada’s Move Over law has been in place since 2003. Any driver caught not following the law on any state highway could be cited.
For more information on Nevada’s Move Over law, click here.