It’s been more than two years since a fireball traffic accident left four people dead in Colorado, but the tragedy has taken another turn as the man convicted of causing the crash was told he would spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Rogel Aguilera-Mederos, a 26-year-old Cuban immigrant who said he moved to the US to proe a better life for his family, said the crash unfolded in April 2019 when his brakes failed, sending his truck plowing into dozens of cars and causing a 28-car pile-up.
The truck driver was slapped with 27 charges and sentenced to 110 years in prison last week – thanks to what the judge said was down to Colorado’s mandatory-minimum sentencing laws.
Now, the trucking community is fighting back against the hefty sentence, with drivers posting social media s in a show of solidarity with Aguilera-Mederos, vowing to boycott driving through the state, and more than four million signing an online petition for clemency.
The crash
It was 25 April 2019 when Aguilera-Mederos was driving an 18-wheeler semi-truck loaded with lumber along Interstate 70 in Lakewood, near Denver, Colorado.
Aguilera-Mederos, 23 at the time, was driving the vehicle during rush hour traffic for his job at Houston-based trucking company Castellano 03 Trucking LLC.
The driver said the vehicle lost its braking function as he was driving downhill on the interstate.
Prosecutors said the driver passed several runaway ramps designed to help vehicles which have lost control of their brakes come to a safe stop but failed to use any.
The semi-truck plowed into several vehicles causing a massive pile-up of 24 cars and four semitrailers.
The aftermath of the 28-vehicle accident in Colorado back in 2019
(AP)
The crash caused a huge fireball explosion that killed four people.
Footage from the scene showed roaring flames and thick smoke billowing into the air from the mass pile-up.
Lakewood Police Spokesman Ty Countryman told reporters at the time it was “one of the worst accidents we’ve had here in Lakewood”.
It took hours for some of the victims’ bodies to be pulled from the wreckage, he said.
Authorities said no alcohol or drugs were involved and Aguilera-Mederos had no prior criminal record.
The victims
Four men, all from Colorado, were killed in the blazing inferno while six others were hospitalised with injuries.
The four victims were identified as: Doyle Harrison, 61, from Hudson; William Bailey, 67, from Arvada; Miguel Angel Lamas Arrellano, 24, from Denver; and Stanley Politano, 69, from Arvada.
They were all traveling in separate vehicles along the highway at the time.
Harrison worked as a graphic designer in the planning and zoning department for Jefferson County for more than three decades.
He was driving home from the Jefferson County Administration Building at the time of the crash.
The 61-year-old was remembered as a “loving husband, father, brother and friend” who left behind his wife and three children in an online obituary.
Miguel Angel Lamas Arrellano was one of the four victims killed in the crash
(GoFundMe)
Politano was a married father-of-two sons who was due to celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary just nine months after the crash.
He had spent two decades working his way up in the gaming industry and was the executive vice president for casino development company Jacobs Entertainment.
Cathi Politano, his wife of 49 years, said he had called her on his way home from work that night – something he would do every evening – and that they were planning to book their anniversary trip that night.
Cathi Politano told ABC7 his last words to her were: “I love you and I’ll be there in a minute”.
She said she then turned on the news and saw the accident, immediately recognising it as his route home.
Ms Politano said she called her husband back to tell him to take a different route but his phone went straight to voicemail.
“That never happens,” she said.
The following day, she received confirmation that her husband had been killed in the crash.
The charges and conviction
Aguilera-Mederos was arrested at the scene and charged with a trove of charges including vehicular homicide.
In October, he was found guilty of 27 criminal charges including four counts of vehicular homicide, six counts of first-degree assault, 10 counts of attempt to commit assault in the first degree–extreme indifference, two counts of vehicular assault- reckless, one count of reckless driving, and four counts of careless driving causing death.
On 13 December, the now-26-year-old was sentenced by Colorado District Court Judge Bruce Jones to 110 years in jail.
The judge said he had “no desire” to sentence the 26-year-old to life in prison but that his hands were tied due to the number of charges the defendant was found guilty of and the rules under state law.
In Colorado, each count should be served consecutively rather than concurrently.
“If I had the discretion, it would not be my sentence,” the judge told the court.
Rogel Aguilera-Mederos pictured in a 2019 booking photo
(Lakewood Police Department )
Before the sentence was handed down, Aguilera-Mederos gave an emotional plea for leniency as he said he wished he could swap places with the people killed.
“I know that it has been hard and heartbreaking for everyone involved in this tragedy,” he said.
“Your honour I don’t know why I’m alive. Like for what?
“I ask God too many times why them and not me? Why did I survive that accident?”
Aguilera-Mederos sobbed as he told the court he was “not a criminal” and is “sorry” for the trauma he has caused.
“I respect my family, and I respect myself, I respect the people who believe in me that I’m not a criminal and I respect God,” he sobbed.
His voice broke and his statement became inaudible, before he took a break, before going on.
“I want to say sorry. Sorry for the loss, for the people injured. I know they have trauma, I know, I feel that,” he said.
“But please, don’t be angry with me… I was working hard for a better future for my family.
“I have never thought about hurting anybody in my entire life.”
He added that he takes “responsibility” but that it “was a terrible accident”.
The calls for clemency
Outrage has erupted over Aguilera-Mederos’ lengthy sentencing, with an online petition calling for clemency reaching more than 4m signatures and truckers staging a boycott of Colorado in support of their fellow trucker.
Many have hit out at the lengthy sentence handed to the driver over an accident compared to the lesser sentences sometimes doled out to people convicted of other crimes, such as rape and murder.
The Change.org petition was first set up in 2019 by Heather Giblee who called for the trucking company to be held responsible rather than Aguilera-Mederos.
But the petition gained traction following last week’s sentencing.
Now, it is calling for his sentence to be commuted as time served or for Governor Jared Polis to grant him clemency.
“I made this petition because i am a native to Colorado, who believes this man is NOT a criminal and this was purely an accident,” wrote Ms Giblee.
A Change.org petition calling for clemency for Rogel Aguilera-Mederos has reached more than four million signatures
(Change.org)
“No, we are not trying to make it seem any less of a tragic accident that it is because yes, lives were lost.
“We are trying to hold the person who needs to be held responsible, responsible. The trucking company has had several inspections since 2017, with several mechanical violations.”
The petition continued: “There are many things Rogel could have done to avoid the courts, but he took responsibility showed up and severely apologized to the victims families.
“Some of the families even offered Forgiveness. Rogel is not a criminal, the company he was working for knew the federal laws that go into truck driving but they failed to follow those laws.
“Rogel has said several times that he wishes he had the courage to crash and take his own life that day, this tragic accident wasn’t done with Intent, it wasnt a criminal act, it was an accident.”
As of Monday afternoon, the petition had reached almost 4.4m signatures.
A Change.org spokesperson told The Independent that the petition was the fastest growing US petition in the whole of 2021.
The governor’s office released a statement saying it was “aware of this issue” and that the governor and his team “review each clemency application indiually”.
Boycotts and protests
Fellow truckers have also come out in a show of support for Aguilera-Mederos by vowing to refuse to drive through Colorado, where the crash took place and the Cuban immigrant was convicted.
Dozens of s have been posted on social TikTok, Facebook and Twitter reportedly showing lines of trucks whose drivers are boycotting entering the state and the hashtags #NoTrucksToColorado and #justiceforrogel have been trending.
In one Tiktok, @Toro_lag showed clips of trucks with the phrases “No more trucks to Colorado” and “Justice for Rogel”.
Fellow trucker and TikTok user @bigmula7031 posted a inside his truck telling the camera Aguilera-Mederos’ sentence is “ridiculous”.
“I’m not saying he should be let off scot-free, no,” he said. “But 110 years, that’s ridiculous.”
Another TikTok @ntgi2020 posted a with the caption: “This truck is no longer going to Colorado. We want justice for Rogel Aguilera. Truckers, he needs our help.”
Despite the calls for justice trending online, Colorado Motor Carriers Association President Greg Fulton told CBS4 he doesn’t think the boycott is widespread and has not heard of Colorado truckers joining in.
“The s look like they are from a different time or period,” he said.
“I would hope that’s not happening, because I think that would be the wrong approach, no matter how you look at this.”
Several in-person protests have also been organised in support of the jailed truck driver.
However, a planned march outside the state capitol in Denver on Monday failed to attract a big turnout with CBS4 reporting only around eight protestors showing up.
Another rally, arranged by different organisers the Colorado Sin Fronteras, is planned for outside the Jefferson County Courthouse on 27 December.
What do the victims’ families think?
One of the families of the four victims welcomed the conviction and sentencing of the truck driver last week.
Bailey’s widow Gage Evans told CBS Denver she believes Aguilera-Mederos deserves a prison sentence for what happened.
“He was found guilty of reckless behavior that killed my husband that was the most important thing to me,” she said.
In the aftermath of the crash in 2019, Politano’s wife spoke out to say she felt sorry for the man responsible for her husband’s death.
Cathi Politano told ABC7 her husband would have wanted his family to “take the high road”.
“He would say, ‘Take the high road,’ so we will,” she said.
“He wasn’t a man of vengeance, so what he would ask is that the boys take care of me, and they have.”
