The driver of an 18-wheel truck was driving on the Colorado highway at 85 mph and killed four people along the way. He has been sentenced to more than a century of imprisonment.
Jefferson County Judge A. Bruce Jones ordered Rogel Aguilera-Mederos to imprison 110 years for the 2019 crash on Monday, but pointed out that if he had more choices in this matter, he would not choose this punishment, CBS Denver Report.
"I accept and respect the defendant's remarks that he had no intention of harming others, but he made a series of terrible decisions, reckless decisions," the judge said. "If I had discretion, it would not be my judgment."
On April 25, 2019, Aguilera-Mederos drove a timber-laden semi-truck on the I-70 Interstate in Lakewood during a rush hour. At the time, he said that he had lost his right on April 25, 2019. Brake control. It crashed into more than two dozen vehicles—including four other semi-trucks—and finally stopped.
After the accident, the 26-year-old truck driver told investigators that when he encountered another traffic jam on the I-70 interstate that day, he could not stop. Instead, he drove to the shoulder of the road and ran into it. Vehicles on Colorado Mills Park Road overpass. During his trial, the prosecutor highlighted the fact that Aguilera Mederos did not take the uncontrolled truck ramp after the brakes failed.
He was convicted on 42 counts in October, including vehicle murder, first-degree assault, attempted first-degree assault, reckless driving and careless driving. He was also convicted of several counts of careless driving, reckless driving and vehicle assault, but the jury found him not guilty on several counts of attempted assault.
Jones said on Monday that his hands are bound by the sentencing law, and he has sentenced Aguilera-Medros to a minimum sentence for each crime, all of which must be served at the same time.
"It hurts, I have asked God too many times, why are they and not me?" Aguilera Mederos said in a tearful statement in court. "Why can I survive that accident?"