Overnight, a truck driver was robbed and brutally beaten near a Dallas truck stop.
According to the Dallas Morning News, the unidentified truck driver was parked at an empty lot located at Cherry Valley Blvd and Lancaster Road– a place drivers frequently park when the truck stop is full.
Police say they were called to the lot at approximately 12:30 a.m. Â When they arrived, they found the driver lying on the ground beside his truck.
Police say the driver was brutally beaten with a baseball bat and was seriously injured. Â He was transported to a local hospital. Â Police are not releasing the victim’s name or his current condition at this time.
Two hours after the robbery and beating, police arrested a suspect, Zachariah Williams. Â He is being charged with aggravated robbery.
This week marks the 4th anniversary of the death of Jason Rivenburg.
In March 2009, Rivenburg, 35, had just delivered a load in Virginia and was heading to South Carolina. Â Jason was ahead of schedule for his next delivery, which was only 12 miles away.
Jason was scheduled to deliver at Food Lion supermarket.  The store would not accept early deliveries and would not allow Jason to park on their property and wait until his appointed time, so he pulled into an abandoned gas station– the only place with available parking in the area.
Willie Pelzer was a thug, a career felon.  Pelzer was at a gas station across the road from the abandoned gas station Jason had parked at.  Authorities believe Pelzer was looking for someone to rob.  He noticed Jason’s truck  and crossed the street, and climbed under Jason’s trailer to wait for him to go to sleep.  At approximately 10:30 that night, Pelzer entered Jason’s truck and shot him twice in the head.  Pelzer walked away with $7.00.
Just thirteen days after Jason’s murder, his wife Hope delivered twins.  Jason left behind a wife and three children.
Jason’s wife Hope found purpose in tragedy.  Hope was on a mission to provide safe parking for truck drivers.  She began lobbying for change. Congressman Paul Tonko, with the support of Congressman Erik Paulsen (R-MT), introduced Jason’s Law on April 28th, 2009; however, Congress did not get a chance to vote on the bill.
On May 5th, 2009 Senators Charles Schumer and Kristen Gillibrand also introduced Jason’s Law as S 1187. to the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works. Although the bill was widely supported, funds were not available, so the bill did not make it to the floor.
Three years and more failed attempts later, Jason’s Law finally passed.
Jason’s Law requires the Department of Transportation to conduct a survey of the availability of parking facilities within each State to evaluate their capability to provide adequate parking and rest facilities for CMV’s and the survey is being conducted at this time.