I-70 Crash Truck Driver Charged With 40 Counts

GOLDEN, CO – Charges were filed in Jefferson County Friday for the Texas semitrailer driver who caused a fiery 28-car pileup on I-70 last week that killed four people and sent more to the hospital.

Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos, 23, has been charged with 40 counts, including 36 felonies, JeffCo District Attorney Peter Weir said Friday. Aguilera-Mederos "manifested an extreme indifference to the value of human life" Weir said, and that led to counts of vehicular homicide, as well as multiple counts of first-degree assault and attempted assault. He potentially faces sentences of 10-32 years in prison, Weir said.

On April 25, driving a flatbed vehicle loaded with lumber, Aguilera-Mederos was observed driving his truck at around 85 miles per hour down the eastbound I-70 mountain highway, bypassing several emergency truck pull-off areas, police said. He slammed into stalled traffic near the Colorado Mills Mall, causing a fiery crash that damaged the highway and kept the road closed for more than 24 hours. He told police that the brakes on his truck failed and he feared rolling his semitrailer, so he didn't pull off the highway.

The Jefferson County Coroner identified the people killed in the crash as William Bailey, 67, of Arvada; Doyle Harrison, 61, of Hudson; Miguel Angel Lamas Arellano, 24, of Denver; and Stanley Politano, 69, of Arvada.

Aguilera-Mederos was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol and was not believed to have acted intentionally, but prosecutors can charge him for acting recklessly, the Denver Post reported Friday.

Aguilera-Mederos is being held in the Jefferson County jail on $400,000 bail.

The driver's wife, Nailan Gonzalez, posted a message from Aguilera-Mederos on a Facebook page Monday in Spanish: “This is not fair what they are doing to me, but I never thought that I would have a world out there supporting me.” He asked for prayers and thanked his lawyers.