Truck Driver Jailed for 110 years for the Colorado accident that killed 4 lives

Truck Driver Jailed for 110 years for the Colorado accident that killed 4 lives. 

Monday, a Colorado judge handed down the Texas truck driver 110 years of prison for vehicular homicide after his semi-trailer slammed into traffic, killing four people on the mountain highway.

Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos, 26 He was found guilty, in October, by an inquest jury of Jefferson County, Colorado, of four murder charges, together with numerous charges of reckless driving and assault that stemmed from the fiery crash in April 2019.

Jefferson County District Judge Bruce Jones stated that Colorado law obliged him to impose those mandatory sentences on each of the counts that Aguilera Mederos was found guilty of, but that he did not have “no intention” to sentence him to prison for the rest of his life.

“If I were to have the option to do so, it wouldn’t be my punishment,” Jones said.

Prosecutors at trial claimed that Aguilera Mederos knew his brakes were failing and could drive by at least one truck running off the ramp while descending the mountains that run along Interstate 70 east of Denver.

He then swerved recklessly between the flow of traffic until his trailer, which was carrying lumber, collided with the road and exploded into flames, sparking the collision of 28 vehicles which killed four people and injured six others, prosecutor’s reports said.

Aguilera-Mederos said to investigators that his brakes were not working, and he attempted to avoid striking other vehicles when he lost control.

In the hearing on Monday, Megan Harrison, the daughter of one of those murdered, Doyle Harrison, told the judge that “my father’s body was taken from me.”

“A significant character in my own life did not come back home.” the woman said.

When he appeared before the court, Aguilera Mederos wept when he pleaded with the victims’ families for forgiveness and requested leniency from the judge.