Texas Trucker Convicted in Fatal Rocky Mountains Crash
A Texas truck driver was convicted Friday on charges related to a fiery crash that killed four on a Colorado mountain highway.
Details of the Fatal Colorado Truck Accident
According to Reuters, the fatal crash occurred on April 15, 2019.
Prosecutors argued that the driver, Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos, 25, was aware his brakes were failing as he continued to descend Interstate 70 near Denver. They went on to lay out how Aguilera-Mederos bypassed four runaway-truck ramps as he weaved in and out of traffic before crashing and causing a 28-vehicle pileup.
Aguilera-Mederos’s truck and trailer burst into flames, igniting a fire that engulfed more than two dozen vehicles. The accident resulted in four deaths and multiple injuries.
Aguilera-Mederos admitted that he had not driven in the Colorado mountains before and stated he was unable to control his truck and trailer once its brakes failed.
Aguilera-Mederos is charged with four counts of homicide and more than two dozen other charges, including reckless driving, careless driving resulting in death, and vehicular assault. He will be sentenced on December 13 and faces decades in prison.
Trucking Accident Facts and Statistics
- According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there were 433,000 accidents involving large trucks reported in 2017.
- 4,761 people were killed in trucking accidents with large trucks accounting for nine percent of all vehicles involved in fatal accidents.
- Of the deaths that occurred in trucking crashes in 2017, only 18 percent were truck drivers. The remaining 82 percent were occupants of other vehicles, bicyclists, and pedestrians.
- Texas has remained the state with the most recorded truck accident deaths for years and recorded 649 truck accident fatalities in 2017. California was a distant second with 361 deaths.
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