Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos: Truck driver gets 110 years in prison for I-70 crash
DENVER, COLORADO: A truck driver was sentenced to 110 years in prison on Monday, December 13, for creating a catastrophic pileup on Interstate 70 west of Denver. The crash killed four people and wounded six more. District Court Judge Bruce Jones ordered the sentence against Rogel Aguilera-Mederos, 26, after determining that it was the statutory minimum time set forth by state law.
"I will declare that if I had the option, I would not have imposed this punishment," the judge remarked. In October, Aguilera-Mederos was found guilty of vehicular murder and other offences related to the collision on April 25, 2019. He stated that his semitrailer's brakes failed before he crashed into automobiles that had been delayed due to another accident in Lakewood, Colorado.
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Prosecutors stated that as his vehicle barreled down from the mountains, he might have utilised one of many runaway ramps. The chain-reaction crash caused gas tanks to explode, igniting flames that burned multiple vehicles and melted sections of the roadway. Miguel Angel Lamas Arellano, 24, William Bailey, 67, Doyle Harrison, 61, and Stanley Politano, 69, were among those who died that day. "When you lose your spouse, it might seem like you're half a person," Kathleen Harrison, who was married to Doyle Harrison, said. "We worked as a unit."
Aguileraa-Mederos was found guilty for four charges of vehicular murder, six counts of first-degree assault, ten counts of attempted first-degree assault, four counts of negligent driving causing death, two counts of vehicular assault, and one count of reckless driving by a Jefferson County jury, according to the report by The Denver Post. According to authorities, Aguilera-Mederos was driving at least 85 mph (137 kph) on a section of the road where commercial trucks are allowed to 45 mph (72 kph) due to a steep fall from the Rocky Mountain foothills. The first collision resulted in a 28-vehicle chain reaction.
The truck had just passed a ramp on the side of the freeway that is meant to safely halt truckers and other vehicles that have lost their brakes, according to police. During the sentence, Aguilera-Mederos sobbed as he apologised to the victims' families and asked for forgiveness. "I am not a criminal," he stated emphatically. "I am not a killer," says the narrator. "I'm not a murderer. When I read my accusations, I realise that we're dealing with a killer, which is not me. In my whole life, I have never considered harming someone.", he added.