The truck driver who blamed mechanical failure for the fatal crash on I-70 outside Denver has been released from jail after paying his $400k bond. The money was reportedly raised from crowd-funded donations.
Rogel Aguilera-Mederos’ story has sparked strong reactions on both sides. The 23-year-old trucker caused a devastating accident that involved 28 vehicles and killed four people. Aguilera-Mederos says that he lost control of his truck due to brake failure, but eye-witness accounts say that his truck passed by multiple runaway truck ramps.
Aguilera-Mederos was arrested and now faces 40 criminal charges. But his supporters say that police are treating him unfairly. One Lakewood Police Department officer told reporters that it didn’t matter whether or not mechanical failure was to blame, the charges – including four counts of vehicular homicide – would remain the same.
The story garnered national attention, and donations from sympathetic individuals poured in. Those donations were used for legal fees and to post bail.
Shortly after his release, Aguilera-Mederos went on Facebook Live and delivered a 20-minute live broadcast. Before thanking his supporters for their donations, Aguilera-Mederos acknowledged and offered condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the crash. “It is very sad and I give my regrets to the families of those who passed away and the families of those who got hurt.”
According to the Denver Post, Aguilera-Mederos spent the vast majority of the video thanking those who had donated to him.
“You have no idea what it’s like to be at rock bottom and see all the love from so many people,” Aguilera-Mederos said. “It’s so beautiful to see all of us united and moving forward.”
Source: 9news, denverpost, denverpost, thedenverchannel, facebook, truckersreport, truckersreport
My guess is that “Agluilera-Mederos” is already down in Mexico.
Yes, were he belongs!
Dont know but when a cadian driver killed someone in boston he got bail went back to Canada iam sure he has a ankle bracelet on
Who said that he is Mexican. Just because of his skin color??? Stupidity comes out of your mouth
The info in article stated he was from Mexico. He only drove for a company in Texas, Houston area, for 2 weeks before driving in Colorado…The article stated he was from Mexico…Therefore no one is assuming skin color
.Just the mere facts. DOH…
No, there is no information in the article regarding his nationality, but having read other articles I can assure you it’s not Mexico.
Read Much ?
Look at his name and read the article, which clearly states that he is from Mexico.
He is Cubanito not Mexican.
My guess is probably not, since he’s not from Mexico, as many other articles have indicated.
Yeah
He certainly won’t show up at trial
That $400k that those fools donated is gone
Who would donate money to get this idiot out of jail ?
I wonder the same thing. Kill several people and get over 400 k donated to you ? There’s a lot of stupid fools out there. Where are the donations when a driver is killed by a fool behind the wheel of a car ?
To. Justin you could say to same to someone in a car that loose it brake or a stuck gas pedal for stuck gas.pedal switch car to neutral and apply brakes and with no brake put car in neutral and apply emergency brakes but no one does it I experienced this going down a hill leaking master cylinder cause me with no brakes but i was able to stop the car and then safely drove it to the shop but how many idiots call 911.and ask for help
Sanford, the idiot in question, on video, passed runaway truck ramps. The driver is a murderer. Nothing more, nothing less, and anyone who donated to his campaign to get free is a moron.
My thing is, even if his brakes did fail, what about the “Jake brake”? It opens a valve on the engine to slow the truck down. Why did he not use that?
Did you miss the part where he went by multiple runaway ramps?
Yes I think they missed the passing by multiple runaway ramps part. This guy should be in jail.
Sanford, you are clueless to how a air brake system works! Understand this; without air pressure the brakes remain in-gauged. Got it??? No air… no move of truck! And what the hell does morons calling 911 have to do with this issue, Oh ya, nothing.
This driver was not driving within the mechanical limits of his truck. If he had been, four people would still be alive, do you understand?
Now I do not know how the process works across the US for qualifying for your commercial license, but for us in BC, first you take a week long air brake coarse, then you apply for a learners license. Professional driver training is the law now. Most do at least 50 hours of instruction. So now you have about 100 hours and $6,000.00 invested. And still you know nothing about how to actually do the job. It takes courage to use a runaway lane, the same courage it takes to stand up and take responsibility for making a grievous mistake and killing 4 people.
Engaged, not in-gauged. Course, not coarse. And people wonder why truckers always sound so stupid.
The Word NAZI has made an appearance….
I agree TOTALLY.
you know nothing about air braking moron
no air then only 1 axle locks up
not 5
good luck stopping 80,000 lbs with 2 brake shoes
we ba pl
l
You do realize that if brakes are out of adjustment or overheated they do not work, even if they are “in gauged”
Using runway ramp is considered preventable crash.
Have few of those and you can say good bye to trucking because no one going to hire you.
Just slow slow down before you get to down grade and maintain that speed.
Fact is unless he road his air brakes forever without letting it build back up he had used them up but he seemed to do fine on steep grades how’s his Jake brake? And who would donate that amount is he a Mexican celeb? My guess he skips the USA and goes to his home MEXICO
Other idiots
Snowflakes…
The money went to the Bonding Company to secure his release, not in his pocket.
I wonder, would all the fools that donated to him donate to fund my wart removal on my thumb. I just can’t seem to get rid of it. The guy needs to fry. They have video of the fool flying past several run away truck ramps. I don’t know why he is not being called a terrorist for this. I think he intended to do what he did. It is a shame he survived and others died for his stupidity.
ABSOLUTELY!
This guy’s life is over, no matter where he is. Watch the videos preceeding the wreck. This guy is all over the highway. His eyes were closed while he was slamming into all the cars because he was scared? No, this guy was asleep.
I started driving when I was 23 poor kid
Did you call him a poor kid he is 23 were you a kid at 23 ?
He wasn’t asleep, he fried his brakes and couldn’t stop. On top of that I doubt he could read enough English to understand the runaway ramp signs
That’s a strong possibility. In any case he REALLY should fry.
I think the line about him not being able to read the run away truck signs is BS. He didn’t want to pay the cost of getting removed from one of those run away lanes or was too scared. He was hoping to ride it out to the bottom and had no way of knowing traffic was going to be stopped at the bottom of the hill. He also stated he couldn’t use the shoulder to avoid the stopped traffic because of another truck already stopped on it. That would have definitely resulted badly for him if he hit a trailer head on at that speed, so he chose to hit stopped traffic. Bottom line is, he was going too fast in his truck for the conditions of the road. There are speed signs posted for grades wether you are loaded or empty and hardly any trucks abide by them. They are there for a reason, because of situations like this! Why people would donate to get him out is beyond me.
And they want to lower the driving age???
Amen, but it’s all about the money. They want to push freight down the road below costs. That’s why these carriers are going Out of Business. I don’t blame the driver, I blame the system. First it’s the cop who tries to talk to a driver who can’t speak, read, and understand English and give him a CDL anyway. The ones who decided to allow a driver to take the CDL test in the language of their choice. The test needs to be taken in the same language the signs are printed in. The person responsible for driver training at the company that employed him, and those who keep trying to bend the rules to get drivers who will work cheaper are also to blame. That’s why they want the 18 year olds! There’s a reason insurance companies don’t want to insure drivers under 25. If a driver trainer was sitting in the jump seat it would have prevented this accident/tragedy. Then once he reaches 25 with at least 100,000 miles under his belt with at least 25,000 in each season and terrain in which the company operates. A FL driver doesn’t need mountain training, but if he starts a new job driving through the mountains, he needs training first. I bet the majority of crashes in the mountains are by drivers who have not been sufficiently trained for mountain driving.
He didn’t start his day saying let’s go kill someone. He wasn’t properly trained, nor was he qualified to drive in a place where the signs are in English. For the same reason I refuse to drive in Quebec. It’s confusing when you don’t understand the signs. It’s not his fault, it’s our industries problem.
You are a Wise man Steve, God bless you.
You are absolutely right
And EXACTLY what Steve said! Great posts
The driving age has nothing to do with this. I’m 62 and started driving “intrastate” the day I turned 18. Never had a serious accident involving someone else, Rolled a log truck one time trying, and suceding in not killing a carload of asshats. But naturally, they drove away unscathed, and unknown. Yea it would take some serious training for me to hire a “kid” but seem that works for our government. Ever hear of the armed forces. well trained kids.
EXACTLY what Ac & Al said!
Poor kid he is 23. He couldn’t help it it was an accident. He didn’t mean to do it why didn’t he steer away was he saving his own life ? Or was he somehow blocked from going into them? It sounds like he is thinking he can just ignore it by going on the internet with his pitiful excuses apologizing . If he had a concious he would be in shock and it wouldn’t be a casual oh well it happens attitude
very unfortunate. i have been a truck driver for years and i knew just looking at the video it was break fade(failure). The reason for this accident is the practice big trucking companies have been getting away with for years. what they do is train people with no understanding or history in trucking to get a CDL-A(truck licence) in order to provide a lower cost service by locking these people into a contract to work for less then minimum wage. They do everything they can to not pay drivers for there time with pay scams that look good on paper but in reality make you a slave to there dictations. some company even train drivers with drivers who only have a few months trucking time. Now with that said the government has caved to the demands of them for years allowing good drivers to be pushed out of the industry by the millions. A newer rule of Electronics logs has made it very unsafe to drive now because you no longer can control your time. to put it in lay mans language. imagine you get in your car and start a clock that counts down 15 min before you start to head to work and then your told what your workday has to do no exceptions. all the little interruptions of the day get you behind and you cant even stop to use the bathroom because this clock is always running against your day. now your get your work done for the day and have to go home but you don’t have enough time to drive there safely so you drive as fast as you can to race this stopwatch to get home from work. this is what happens every day in the trucking industry. and records show as do experienced drivers input that since the addition of the new laws the road has become a hazard! it is also making it hard to keep people and trucking is in a decline. I feel badly for those who lost there lives in this horrific accident as do if feel badly for the driver who i believe was who was just trying to get his job done and did not have the training he needed to prevent this from happening. i pray for a change and that this will stay in the public eye and lead to a change to make it safer for everybody.
Thank you for your thoughtful comment
Training is the biggest problem. He’s not the only driver burning the brakes downhill. Adding more endorsements to the CDL should help. A mountain endorsement would make sure you’re properly trained and should be held accountable no matter what happens. In order to get a mountain endorsement would mean you also knew how to adjust the brakes and know how to check for air leaks other than mashing the brake pedal. That would mean getting out and checking airbags and hoses for leaks. This is something that most with 6-12 months experience is lacking. After 2 or 3 months a driver is still learning to parallel park and having trouble backing in. There’s lots to learn as a truck driver. Every week you will learn something new about trucking. If not everyday.
Know how I check forcairleaks? I press on the break pedal and if air gauge doesnt drop no leaks…might have a small one that will empty your air after truck is shutdown but if it stays charged while running who cares?
Drivers get screwed all the time! If you dont make a minimum of $300 daily, it is not worth being away from home living in a sleeper. With the prices on the road of eating and other expenses it is not worth risking your life or somebody else’s. Hours spent at warehouses not making a single dime while your eld is running is one of the biggest labor abuses we got. How about checking up on those greedy brokers who sit on their asses all day behind a screen making a killing. That’s what’s wrong with the trucking industry!
I don’t know why everyone is sooooo upset!… he said he was SORRY… that’s all that matters, RIGHT????
I just want to hurl, not only at the driver, but at some of these comments.
It looks bad for this 23yr old, I saw the news clips of his outa control truck, and I will wait to pass judgment.
I agree , so fast to judgment is not good for no one ♏️
He’s gone. In two weeks he’ll be Juan Valdez, a former coffee farmer from Columbia, driving for some third rate “company” in south Texas.
LMAO Rusty Fenders. LOL
As an experienced owner and driver I can say he’s a fool but those that donated are bigger fools. I’ve been down that mountain and most others through this country and Canada without incident so far. He is an inexperienced driver that was shoved through a “driving school” and turned loose. These companies that do this should be shut down!! My family and I are out here daily and it scares the crap out of me to see the way people drive!!
Chris. After reading all the comments….I had to respond to your, because as a driver my self for 5yrs now…I started at Prime Inc. Thank God driving is in my blood, however. Prime Inc is a company that allows newbies to have their own truck & train other newbies…..i know for a fact alot of Prime drivers are not ready for this big responsibility…..changes must be made
“Brakes failed” yeah whatever I guess those trucks who travel at 35 or 45 mph when going downhill are just idiots who are sightseeing.
My wife and kids mother was killed by an illegal alien truck driver due to speeding, no brakes on trailer, over hours, avoiding weigh stations. He rolled the truck on top of her pickup on a turn, cut her in half. He was charged with manslaughter, but because we were in California, the DA of Shasta County was told by the state to lay off…..CA is a sanctuary state. The criminal is back in Mexico!
I am pissed!!
He didn’t get away with it . Sooner or later he dies. And meets his maker
Donations camr from people who believe he deserves a fair trail.
Otherwise idiots like you above would stone him bc you „believe” he is guilty.
I agree jack. Plus it’s shows such power of the Mexican Nation sticking together to make it possible for their kind
Well put! The criminal justice system is working as designed for him to be released. Some bigots here are making all sorts of unfounded assumptions.
As for the “language” on road signs, the color and shape of most signs are identical across the ENTIRE North American continent! That means Canada, The United States of America, and Mexico because people smarter than bigoted Internet bullies considered language on road signs as more than written words.
If you’re going to call people “idiots” you should be able to spell and punctuate correctly…moron!
Well,,,, bye.
Only an idiot would donate for a cause this lame. There is no question of where the blame lies. Dude should have been locked up without bail, but maybe Lakewood needs the money worse than they need another Mexican in jail
Coming from a person straight out of law enforcement and why I left due to the Colorado politics and a slew of misguided democrats out here, I can tell everyone I’m no longer shocked by the news.
This guy closed his eyes before striking these vehicles that were stopped on the road due to a prior accident.
Forget the runaways he missed, nobody closes there eyes knowing they are going to ram into other vehicles. No excuse period. Any other truckers including myself now in my new courier would do this. We would ditch that truck before such an outrageous selfless act. Even pilots knowing that they are going to crash and most likely die, avoid populated areas to crash.
These people who put up the money are idiots.
I don’t believe WAOOOO That driver killed 4 innocent people and crash 28 cars and trucks because he don’t have a brake OK but what about the runaway ramps? He doesn’t see that or he don’t read it’s? For me this driver is guilty. I have 42 years of experience and I have my situations but never ever like that.
In a Case like this his Bond should’ve been held till evidence proved him innocent. Way too much involved for being released and given the chance to run. Even if he’s innocent who the hell is going to hire him anyway after passing up Emergency off ramps and causing this much destruction?! Hopefully no one!
First of all I respect our truck drivers for their time away from their family’s to make sure we have our supplies in our homes time taken away from their family’s, homes life and I agree if they cant speak or read English and haven’t been properly trained they shouldn’t be behind the wheel of any vehicle the sad thing is our own Government allows them to and they (foreign drivers) dont even have to pay taxes which shouldn’t be allowed either for 6 or 7 years Americans are getting killed more every year and if we dont take our country back it’s going to get worse I pray for the family’s of their loved ones that were lost but drivers in cars should pay more attention to Semi drivers so well give them more respect and realize they take time to help our homes and families…is
He should never have gotten a bond to begin with. This man is a negligent murderer and I’m now worried he won’t face the consequences.
Maybe so, but if you do a little research, another article form Denver says that when officers pull him from rhe wreakage he spoke very little english and could understand very little written english also. So there is that.
Unfortunately, you are responsible for your truck. If the brakes failed, that’s on him – why didn’t he find a fault during his inspection?
You don’t just “lose brakes”. Even if your air tanks blew up or your generator stopped making pressure, your spring brakes would come on and you would stop. Even if your foot pedal wasn’t applying air pressure, you could still stop quite fast using the trailer hand brake.
There is no brake failure I can think of outside of not doing a proper inspection and lack of maintenance that would cause you to not be able to stop. I haul to up 65,500 kg (144,000lbs) and still stop very fast when I need to and both the truck and trailers are drum brakes.
Witnesses all say this guy was driving fast and never let up before the accident. He IS responsible and all those donating suckers that have no idea how air brakes work just wasted money that could have been donated for real causes.
The bottom line is, it’s impossible to just “not be able to brake” if you’ve done your job correctly and if everything fails, it stops by default.
It’s reported he was going too fast and cooking his brakes from the moment he left the tunnels at the top of the “hill”. Basically 50 miles of downhill. If he heated his drums, as witnesses indicate he did, it won’t matter what he does, he’s got no brakes,.
But he passed a couple runaway ramps, three or four more-or-less level areas, and I don’t know how many exits -AND climbed some 10-ish miles up to the tunnels. Not only did he pass up opportunities to stop, he actively continued after his brakes started going.
And now, he’s back in Cuba. We’ll never see him again
Brake Fade is what I assume happened here, although I saw no smoke coming from his Tires in the Video. Not taking an Escape Ramp though was inexcusable. Personally, I would take my Truck off the Road and endanger my own life before Plowing into Traffic..
To Tommy Molnar !!! He is Cuban
And the Cuban community are the ones that donated for his bail !!! Don’t matter what nationality he is you don’t have to make a racist comment.
Fyi….at the last runaway ramp, he switched from the proper lane to take the ramp to the center lane to the inside lane mpmentaily as it appeared to be intently hitting the pickup truck, eatch the video, his brake lights never came on which is electric, so by pressure of over a 1/4″ would have activated the brake lights, he, along with many cdl drivers get no mountain training, continuosly start down grades in the wrong gear, ( rule of thumb, 1 gear lower than used to climb the grade), riding the brakes will glaze the brakes at first from heat build up, then they start smoking, then catch on fire, this seems to mind that this was done intentional, being on the phone at all under these circumstances has not merit if he was using bluetooth headset, which is legal, as far as all the comments stated by car drivers, truckers continuosly have care cutting them off, no blinkers, break checks, including not shutting your bright headlights off when approaching oncoming traffic…we need stiffer rules for car drivers as well, restrictions on mountain driving, and everybody needs to learn driver ettiquette….thus, did anybody think about a retailation ideal sitiuation herr, he is from Cuba, on a green card, na temporary work visa, this could have had political motivation, after all, Cuba has stopped a cruise ship ship not allowing Americans to gain access to Havanna ports recently, keep in mind, Cuba is under a dictatorship, sociolist, communists, whatever you wish to call it, think about what you would do if you was driving that truck, would put up a ramp, into a bridge pillar, a rock wall, the center bar ditch, before you took another humans life, just think about, rolling on into Jersey City, Good Day Americans…
The fact that he is 23 and never drove the mountains, was sent out to colorado by obviously an incompetent dispatch. Imagine being new to mountain driving and burning up your brakes because again NEW to mountain driving. Not knowing where the bottom is and the panic you would be in. Competence and knowing what to do when things go bad in a truck comes with experience. Someone can tell you all day how to do it but until you perform it the danger doesn’t register. I feel terrible for all involved. It’s unfortunate but is it the first time something like this has happened? My truck shut off twice coming down that same mountain but I have 20 yrs driving not a few weeks. Go easy and don’t be so quick to pass judgement. It can happen to you also. You can say what you will do but will you have the courage to do it.
He’s not from Mexico.
I personally have 1.5mil. miles over a 25:yr time frame no major crashes ,so it should match harder to get a CDL and no team driving with less than 2 yr. Exp.no ability to be a trainer with less than 1 yr.
Trucking is not what what it was when I started drivers were proud to say I’m a trucker
Brake Fade is what I assume happened here, although I saw no smoke coming from his Tires in the Video. Not taking an Escape Ramp though was inexcusable. Personally, I would take my Truck off the Road and endanger my own life before Plowing into Traffic..
I’m a truck driver for over 15 yrs. One thing I need to all to understand . Just because you pass your test and start driving trucks in the city doesn’t prepare you for MOUNTAIN DRIVING. 80,000 lbs coming down that mountain at wrong speeds can and will cause break failures quickly. The drum will heat up so fast you’ll see blue smoke everytime he hit them. You can’t down shift either because it won’t allow you to go back into gear. If you didn’t start the down him in correct gear then your in trouble. I can tell you how to fix this but again I have years experience in mountain, snow, ect . Sadly companies send these green drivers out there because they don’t want to pay for the experience ones. I blame his company for this not so much him. I hope what I’m saying will help you understand. And no air pressure would not lock wheels if brakes are out of adjustment due to this. Stay in your lane because you too are ignorant for that comment . You just showed that your not a veteran driver.
It’s very simple he screwed up bigtime and to idiots who paid to bail him out should go down with him,in other words the money put up tells me human life dont mean shit to them,it is the drivers responsibility to do a very very thorough check of his truck doesn’t make a difference who owns it ,its your job driver.
Another rookie screwed up by smoking his brakes now people fill sorry for him for killing 4 people I don’t get it.
The company owners are more to blame and my guess they are from Mexico also , he had every right for bond but I agree he will not appear in court.
Why jail for break failure? Does a airplane pilot go to prison for engine failure and crash? These things happen. Or is there more to it? Maybe poor training?
He was from cuba, here on a green card.
It’s the law to do a pre trip before getting in your truck everyday. If there were brake issues, that’s the time to notice, not going down the road.
Let’s be clear he’s 23 years old that means that he hasn’t been driving for no more than 2 years. He is a green horn. I blame the company for not training him properly… when I got my license in 2006. I thought I knew everything. Until I got to Eagle’s Pointe in Tennessee. That mountain almost claimed my life. It was only through God that I was able to make it to the very bottom. I had no air brakes no air horn no nothing. The only thing that I truly believe that saved me was praying that I made it to the bottom. And before you know it I was at the bottom. But I took the opportunity to ask the Elder has been driving for quite a while how to get down those mountains. He told me, and since then I have mastered my craft. My condolences to those who lost their lives to this young man’s driving skills. I’m sure he feels very bad about the situation. However the company is so quick to make money that they could give a damn whether you are prepared or not. SMH
Don’t be stuped that guy is Cuban get more info not everyone is from Mexico. Dick.
He is Cuban not Mexican y would he go to Mexico,if his breaks failed then he shouldn’t have to worry none,about other charges,but 4 people did die so manslaughter is what he will face.he should have pretty good lawyers,ant how don’t always assume there Mexican,besides his company will be held partly responsible any how,its a shame these young drivers fail to pretrip there vehicles it only take 30 minutes to do it right,get em fixed,get on your way ,I drove 32 yrs,so I know about Colorado pretrip I know alot of drivers don’t pretrip,wake up start driving,but show that they did a pretrip it’s on them when they have accident,but old timers know better,they just short cutting it.
And the government wants to put 18 year old kids behind the wheel of an 18 wheelers
Ok 1st of all how many people making comments are truck drivers ,cause if your not then you don’t know the regulations there for your making false comments, drivers know and he has GPS ankle bracket on and he couldn’t leave Colorado so y’all saying he is back in cuba is false,he is with one of his lawyers,I’m sure he will face the consequences.
How about they give some of the donations to the people he hit and killed ?????
He’s Cuban on a work Visa with a Texas based company if he had read the sign going down the hill on 70 it says truckers you’re not done with downgrades coming into Denver their giving licenses to anyone that’s why I’m done training I’m not a crash test dummy
If he killed 4 people with a four wheeler, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion.
Shut up and go back to your corners and play.
I wonder about when he left the shipper
The accident happened many miles past the last run-away truck ramp. It’s possible his brakes went out after that ramp. Colorado mountain driving is not for rookies and is very dangerous. None of us should pre-judge this man before hearing the details. I’m sure it was a horrifying ordeal to go through. My heart goes out to the families who suffered the loss of a loved one and to the driver of the truck. Pre-judging this accident before hearing the details shows your ignorance. And there are many of you out there.
Jay, I guess you missed the video of him prior to the wreck. He was speeding out of control, in the #1 lane passing an escape ramp. What gets me is how do you not know it’s an escape ramp ? Do you truly need a sign ?
A prudent driver would be looking for any clearing to slow in. How can you drive oblivious to what’s coming up in front of you ? Meaning, where did he think he was going ? Did he not know the large city and suburbs of Denver were at the bottom ? From the video I believe he made a bad choice in the video not taking the escape ramp. I don’t know what evasive maneuvers if any were made seconds prior to the collision. The article is about his bail. And they say we have no tolerance in America. Yeah right.
Let me just put my 2 cents in here
1: The man was unable to effectively communicate in English. Although this is allowed for truckers in the state of Texas, the second he crossed state lines he was in violation of federal regulation.
2. Anyone with a clue as to how modern air-brakes work knows that if that system “fails” as he seems to be claiming, that truck would be rendered immobile, as the spring brakes would be automatically applied. The exception to this would be if he cooked the brakes because he relied soley on them to keep his speed down as he didn’t have the slightest clue on how to drive. Even if the brakes could have “failed” and somehow been the cause of all this, that too shows negligence on his part for not doing a proper pre-trip inspection.
3. He passed how many runaway ramps, in addition to how many miles of cliff he could run the truck off of, or at the very least roll it up on? He was scared and selfish. With that much opportunity to stop this from happening, I find it difficult to call this tragedy anything but intentional.
4. He didn’t take the shoulder where the parked truck was. He chose to close his eyes and plow into stopped families in their cars. Hitting the truck likely would have spared the innocent bystanders, and killed only him.
5. Final nail in the coffin he belongs in. By no reports I have yet heard, he didn’t ask anyone on the scene how many people were hurt, or if anyone was dead. He did not care. Sorry, but an internet video where he apologizes to families and then spends longer thanking the people who gave him money just solidifies that he didn’t care.
Alright, maybe that was a little more than 2 cents. Maybe I’m completely wrong, but if you tell me so you had better have facts and an intelligent argument to back it up. But from my viewpoint as a 21 year old who is one of two people to actually graduate his training (out of the nine that started) I see this man as 100% guilty. The second he illegally got in the seat of that truck, with no ability to take responsibility for his actions and do the right thing despite numerous opportunities, he was guilty. Case closed.
I must not have friends in Ohio, or Ohio Police officers who will “Cover-up ” for me. Or anyone donate $400k for me. Must be the first thing Sgt. Savage of the Ohio Highway Patrol said to me on Sept 14,2005….”We’re not doing this, just because you’re from Michigan ” ! Cops WILL lie to you, and about you ! They cost me my CDL with their lies.
Um hey cuz….this ain’t beautiful because we are not all United with you and your inability to handle adverse conditions….You put 4 people in a box and surely it could have been more….get your dream team attorneys ready because you are about to be delivered a NIGHTMARE….You caused devastation that will last forever….
The driver was not adequately trained in descent control of truck. Service brakes are for stopping at a light or stop sign. They aren’t intended to maintain a speed on a long downgrade – that is what lower gears and engine brakes are for. This was the driver’s fault, period. Not only did he ignore speed limits, he failed to used escape ramps.
I’m a professional OTR owner/operator with 2,500,000 miles of experience – 28 years.
Or a terrorist…
Mostly Third World names on the donation lists…..