Hit-and-run driver convicted after fatally striking tow truck operator in Jasper Co.
A hit-and-run driver has been sent to prison after fatally striking a tow truck operator offering roadside assistance in Jasper County over two years ago.
Joshua Jamaal Frazier, 37, of Ridgeland, received a six-year sentence after pleading guilty to felony hit-and-run resulting in death on Thursday. He received credit for 674 days already spent in jail, bringing his prison term to just over four years, according to Jasper County court records.
The hit-and-run killed 39-year-old Ridgeland resident Eric “P.K.” Albertson, who was a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and employee of the Ridgeland-based A1 Towing.
Albertson was helping a disabled motorist on the side of West Frontage Road on Dec. 27, 2023, when Frazier, driving a Chevrolet SUV, struck the man and fled the scene, according to the South Carolina Highway Patrol.
“(Alberston) was wearing a bright orange high-visibility shirt, and his tow truck was fully marked and illuminated in compliance with South Carolina roadside safety laws,” Albertson’s brother, Vincent Albertson, wrote in his impact statement to the judge that he also shared with The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette through email. “He was exactly where he was supposed to be, doing exactly what his profession and community relied on him to do.”
Witnesses at the scene “observed no braking” from Frazier following the impact, Vincent Albertson wrote, and the suspect did not return to the scene or call for help. Frazier’s eventual admission, the victim’s brother added, “came only as part of a plea agreement, not as an act of immediate accountability.”
At Albertson’s funeral service in January 2024, dozens of tow trucks and motorcycles drove down Robert Smalls Parkway as part of the man’s “last ride.” He received full military honors for his 12-year service in the Marines.
Albertson had three children with his wife Samantha and had worked at A1 Towing for three years. Friends, family and others in the industry described him as a loyal employee and an unyielding positive presence.
“He was always happy, down to do business and he didn’t play around,” said Edwin GaNun, the owner of Roadside Angel Towing in Walterboro. GaNun had frequently interacted with Albertson on the job, he told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.
Circuit Court Judge Carmen T. Mullen handed down Frazier’s sentence in the Jasper County Courthouse.
Troopers investigate the hit-and-run
Several days after Albertson’s death, the S.C. Highway Patrol released a plea for information on the case, describing the suspect vehicle as a dark gray Chevrolet Trailblazer from 2002 through 2009.
Frazier was charged in connection with the hit-and-run more than three months later, in early April 2024. He remained in jail until his sentencing date, Jasper County court records show.
The arrest came after authorities found Frazier’s vehicle “abandoned in a parking lot” with damage consistent with a pedestrian strike, Vincent Albertson wrote.
“This was not a momentary lapse in judgment,” his impact statement read. “It was a sustained course of conduct demonstrating consciousness of guilt.”
Jasper County court records show Frazier pleaded guilty in 2017 to first-degree burglary and felony assault and battery, receiving a two-week prison sentence followed by five years of probation.
‘Slow down. Move over.’
Albertson was one of two tow truck operators recently killed while on duty in Beaufort and Jasper counties.
In late September, 42-year-old Floyd Crespo had just helped lift a semi-truck off a curb on north-end Hilton Head Island when the semi-truck turned around and attempted to turn into a nearby parking lot. The semi-truck swiped Crespo’s wrecker and pinned him between the two vehicles, killing him, according to his employer, the Georgia-based Rahn’s Wrecker Service.
Each of the fatal incidents reignited urgent pleas about drivers’ responsibilities to tow truck operators working on the roadways.
South Carolina law requires drivers approaching stopped emergency vehicles — including tow trucks — to slow down and if possible, merge into a lane farther away from the first responders.
A violation of the state’s “move over law” is considered a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500.
Bobby Davids, co-owner of the towing company that employed Albertson, previously told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette that those in the towing industry are especially vulnerable to dangerous violations of that law, even with extra lights on their vehicles and their operators’ neon reflective clothing.
“The blue and red lights are synonymous with fire, police and EMS. Everyone has a tendency to respect those,” he said. “The problem with the orange, yellow and white lights (on towing vehicles) is that folks are used to seeing them on other vehicles, such as in construction zones, and they don’t garner the same level of respect.”
At Albertson’s funeral, employees with A1 Towing wore hoodies bearing his name and “end of watch” date. Lettering on the back made a plea to drivers encountering stopped tow trucks: “Slow down. Move over. We got the chains from here.”
This story was originally published February 9, 2026 at 2:41 PM.
