A trucker who claims that a brake failure was the cause of a deadly crash in Colorado now faces at least 40 criminal charges. According to a prosecutor, the driver is “looking at decades in the Department of Corrections.” Authorities say whether it was driver error or mechanical failure, criminal charges including vehicular manslaughter will still remain.
Rogel Aguilera-Mederos, a Houston-based trucker, was driving on I-70 in Lakewood, Colorado, about 10 miles West of Denver. The speed limit in the area is 45 miles per hour, but according to police, Aguilera-Mederos was going “in excess of 85 miles per hour” when he slammed into stopped traffic which had backed up due to a different accident ahead.
“Mr. Aguilera was observed by a number of citizens driving recklessly, swerving through various lanes of the road,” said District Attorney Pete Weir according to UPI.
But according to Aguilera-Mederos, the brakes on his truck had failed. The steep downhill grade caused rapid acceleration, and, according to his arrest warrant, his emergency brakes were ineffective.
Aguilera-Mederos tried to avoid other vehicles by pulling into the emergency lane, but there was already another truck there. The accident was massive, involving 28 vehicles. Four people lost their lives.
“Everybody agrees it was an accident,” Aguilera-Mederos’ attorney, Robert Corry said. “Law enforcement agrees it was an accident. Everybody who has been investigating or has looked at it believes it was an accident, and it’s tragic.”
According to Corry, the charges brought against his client constitute “a massive unprecedented overreach by the prosecution” on what was allegedly an accident caused by mechanical failure.
“We believe there was some sort of malfunction, something, and there is pretty good evidence,” Corry said.
Investigators say that since the truck was completely destroyed in the accident and resulting fire, it won’t be possible for an inspection to determine whether or not there was any mechanical failure to blame. But according to Lakewood Police Department Agent Ty Countryman, it doesn’t matter if mechanical failure was to blame – the charges will remain the same.
According to his attorney, Aguilera-Mederos has a clean driving record without even a speeding ticket. There was no evidence of distracted driving, drug use, or alcohol impairment.
Aguilera-Mederos has been charged with four counts of vehicular homicide, six counts of first-degree assault, twenty-four counts of attempted first-degree assault, two counts of vehicular assault, one count of reckless driving, and three counts of crime of violence.
Source: overdrive, truckersreport, nbc2, upi, cnn, nbcnews, reuters, denverpost
Innocent until PROVEN GUILTY. If they can’t prove there was a mechanical problem they cant prove there wasnt either…. If he logged a pre trip and dvir saying it checked out then with that record of previous driving he should be considered innocent until PROVEN guilty and tried in a court after a change of venue for fair jury selection due to the high profile case in that county and state. If what’s said here is true the man is not at fault. Tragic situation but the man was just driving. It could happen to anyone.
Amen. This just goes to show how bad treatment of truck drivers has gotten. If there is mechanical failure in a plane crash and the pikot survives they dont throw him in jail. Im convinced we are second class citizens.
No question, a concerted campaign to vilify the people who bring the general public virtually everything in their homes, driving erratically…you would too, if you had 40 Tons out of control. Unless you’ve been in one, driven one you’ve no clue. did he lose his brakes. His word only. If they can’t disprove his claim, they also cannot prove he was negligent.
A perfect record should count for something. If it wasn’t that would be one thing
2 issues: he’s not white or from Colorado, it’s gets real white west of Denver
But failure of both brake systems? I suppose if his compressor failed, and he didn’t notice the lost air or the gauge, a catastrophic failure of that part, but would also require a BIG leak for those tanks to empty real fast, could have been a long time between braking, or he lost almost all air when applying them once. Then the trailer brakes would have locked up, and at high speed that would be instant out of control truck & death, he must have had some air, and was hoping for space to run out…& finally slow down. That covers the most common type of failure. But there are other things, was it his trailer or drop & hook (IE not familiar). Was it an automatic transmission. Many pertinent questions they cannot prove one way or the other however….truck is history
Last comment, me personally? I could not have coped with killing others, I don’t know what he tried, but I’d have run my truck off the road if I could vs hitting a line of stopped traffic. I’m single, if he’s got a family you can’t blame him for wanting too live, what’s actually surprising to me is he did live through it.
I think your reading WAY too much into the situation here…making this driver out to be the victim because of racism? No way!
Millions of trucks go up and down mountains all day long without incident and nobody dies or is hurt.
This driver is negligent and so is the company that put him there and the person who gave him his CDL in the first place.
End of story.
I agree Mike I don’t see where race has any part in this.
If there’s any problem with your truck especially when it comes to the braking system, you don’t roll until repairs have been completed.
Rolling off those hills in the Denver area will cause “brake fade” if you’re on them too much vs. using lower gears.
Lost control of his truck his fault and the carrier for not providing training to use lower gearing for down hill grades.
Whereas I understand your opinion, there is that lack of proof to muddy these waters. Good streaks of luck happen and so do bad. Without proof this man is innocent until they can make a reasonable person question his story. Me? I would crawl into a bottle and end my days as a “Leaving Vegas kind of suicide. ” Even accidental, how does one live with that kind of guilt? In this country you are not a murderer until they can prove it.
There is a video of him passing a runaway ramp and of him speeding well before the wreck. I think its a big mistake allowing so many immigrants to drive commercially. Show me 1 middle east country country that has safe drivers. They dont even speak english.
It could be the company it’s not the person who gave him the cdl
Or dispatch pushing him!! for God sake
I love the comments from the so called American truckers who say he is negligent and his company is negligent. That’s what this country has always been about. A presumption of guilt because of a few peoples opinions. Like so many people who have been in jail for years cause everyone just knew they were guilty based on little to no evidence. Until DNA sciences exonerates them years later. Or until it happens to you.
Why you say this is everyone guilty
Trucker Mike…..You sir have never had your brakes fail on a mountain down hill run. You know nothing about how it can fail or what you can do it when you cant stop or slow your loaded truck.
Air or not poping the e brake won’t necessarily stop a loaded truck already heading down hill at speed. You can pop your air breaks on a level surface at 40 and it will still take a while to slow you down it’s no where near as effective as using the air breaks. If the driver had already overheated his breaks the pedal or the e brake still wouldn’t work as they both use the same break pads.
It’s why I ignore the no engine break signs that are all over on the down hills in Colorado, not using the engine break and relying on just stab breaking to not over heat your breaks is a disaster waiting to happen. You got to pick a safe gear and let the engine do the work and supplement it with breaks if you must.
I also ignor these moronic city ordanance signs that state, “No Engine Braking”. And I say to all smart trucker drivers, use your head and follow safe driving practices. These morons in these cities ought not to build their houses on the interstate then. I also use my jake brake when descending down any mountain regardless of any city ordance anywhere in the U.S. If this was a factor I’m so sad people had to lose their lives because this driver may have obeyed the city ordanance code.
What they ought to ban are those truckers with those obnoxious unbaffled noise makers and have cops sitting their ticking these idots and that noise coming from their truck, not a city ordanance banning the use of engine braking.
Either way this young man is very young and no telling how long he’s even been driving. He’s 23 and just wait until you get the 18 year olds out here. God Bless Anericwn roads. These young kids haven’t gone through their drinking, and clubbing mode yet. The trucking industry is a complete disaster thinking an 18 uear old is resposible and knowledgeable to think on his feet. Just take a long at this 23 year old.
You have no clue what you are talking about.
He had no clue what he was doing nor would have known how to even check the brakes when you learn on a simulator. I’m sick of you pukes talking about race but if he would have spoke and understood the signs maybe it wouldn’t have happened. A runaway truck ramp is for this reason. I hope he gets at the very least 30 years.
He made it all the way to the bottm if the traffic wasnt there this situation eouldve have never happened if everyone was held the the same standard as truck drivers the persons involved that attributed to the congestion at the bottom of the hill woukd be in jail right now under the oresumption that this accident couldve been avoided if they hadnt beeen there. I can can not and will not condemn that poor guy for mistakes. As a community of truck drivers we should all be able to stand together and defend him knowing how lop sided the scale is against us. The lack of anger toward the government and how quickly everyone wants this guy hung is terrifying. Im still waiting for someone to show me the smoke or flames from his truck that show his brakes where working. If a valve fails while your driving its not something you see in a pretrip. Accidents happen its a tragedy. We will never be able to stop people from dying but i hope we will learn to cope better so innocent people dont akso lose their life
The proof of negligence is easy to find here. He had a clear shot at the runaway ramp and did not. He is a murderer.
Another truck was in the emergency ramp. That’s what is wrong out here…passing judgment before knowing all the details.
That air leak in your dash? that’s a system failure, hit the shoulder right away because your parking brakes are about to lock up . This is true even if all other systems fail . The rest is neglect. Possible linkage failure if coming off the hill, but enough unit failures to prevent slowing unlikely. Also heat buildup causing decreased performance is a long shot. But innocent until proven guilty . If I was him I would reflect on my training. Every one involved with this truck is in for it.
It comes down to the insurance company it always does.
I’m really glad that you won’t be in charge of the investigation.
1)-Brake fade happens when you are traveling to fast down a grade and have overheated your brakes.
2)-If his compressor failed and he lost all his air pressure, his brakes would lock down and he would come to a stop. The air keeps the brakes apart so you can roll.
3)-We all know that if you have an unrestricted truck, the speed limit does not pertain to you. Truck drivers speed whenever they feel they can get away with it.
I agree that trucks are blamed far too often, but after 30yrs and 4.5 million miles, don’t try to B.S. me with this “truckers are innocent” crap. I have seen a lot of UNSAFE movements made by truck drivers.
Evidently, none of the commenters here saw the video of this driver, driving right past the runaway truck ramp as he came down the pass with his brakes smoking.
So if your brakes go out…just keep driving down the mountain at 85 mph…
And kill lots of people…
Okay…
IF THIS IS YOUR BEST SOLUTION…THAT NO BETTER DECISIONS COULD HAVE BEEN MADE BY THE DRIVER..YOUR EITHER IGNORANT OR STUPID..GO TURN YOUR CDL IN RIGHT THE HECK NOW
YOU KNOW WHAT HE COULD HAVE DONE..PREVENTED THE LOSS OF LIFE NUMBER ONE DECISION
Not second class citizens to me. I’m thankful for truckers every day! Without you guys, we wouldn’t have anything at the grocery stores or fuel at gas stations. The trucking industry touches every aspect of life and economy, and for that, I thank you all! #thankatrucker
This was high profile in the news. There was video and quite a few witnesses to attest to his failure to take advantage of the runaway truck ramp when he clearly could. If he could have veered in and out of traffic then he could have veered off there and probably would not be in this situation. Yes I am a driver.
Foolish comparison, pilots aren’t responsible for pre trips and maintenance, same as we are. They have aviation maintenance mechanics do periodic inspections. The pilots do check certain functions from the cockpit, it’s definitely not similar at all.
Not true at all pilots ARE supposed to do a pretrip
Unfortunately, in today’s America we are guilty until proven innocent. The system is so screwed up it is pathetic. Another article says a man that fell asleep at the wheel and caused and accident was awarded $80 million dollars. Yet this guy is going to spend, probably, the rest of his life in prison over a mechanical failure.
Being charged with a crime isn’t pre-judging the case. A jury of his peers will decide guilty/not guilty.
Sure it is. Prosecutors on purposely put this many charges against someone because they know statistically at least one will stick.
NOT IN COLORADO! Peers? Will they find such a jury there? Doubt it, he’s been prejudged in the press, too late for a fair hearing
I have sat on a Federal Jury before. The evidence was overwhelming in favor of the Defendant, yet 10 of my “fellow jurors” wanted to rule in favor of the Plantiff, just because the Defendant had “deep pockets.” I myself and the other juror had not held out, a grave injustice would have been done. The “jury system” is a joke !!
If I’m ever in trouble, I will never be tried by a jury !!
Bravo ! Well stated
Mechanical failure?…pfff
He had plenty of opportunity to dump that truck, instead his choice was…..to spend the rest off his life behind bars!!
The guy in that article was forced by his employer to falsify his log book and to get back on the road. The trucking company has a record of forcing their drivers to do such. We all can say we would have quit and went somewhere else, but no one really wants to do it.
THAT should be a huge fine, should have put the carrier out of business….in a perfect world.
All the legal weight on the drivers, none on the shippers, dispatchers, owners
All of whom drastically negatively effect driver safety, and that of the public too.
Yet the DOT perpetuates that myth, and the government helps them do it!
I’ve said it before here: FMCSA 2010 is nothing but a scam to keep driver payroll low, has NOTHING to do with safety, if it did, your wouldn’t have driver trainers at Swift et al with only 6 months big rig experience, and they wouldn’t run them like air freight teams at half the usual price, they make bank on the trainer scam. Big time.
best article out of the slew
My experiance was companys are either are serial safty or serial unsafe companys. What that means is if they ask you to ignore one safty aspect like hours of service, mechanicial issues are likewise ignored.
No company can force a driver to do anything unsafe. You are the captain of your ship even if it doesn’t belong to you. Companies try to intimidate drivers to do unsafe things all the time but they cant FORCE you. It’s simple: “that’s unsafe/illegal. I won’t do that”.
This actually both could have been prevented. They’re both guilty. Nobody can force you to go over your hours, I’ve quit jobs for that. I’ve also when I got that tired pulled off the road used the computer and sent a message to dispatch I had to sleep and to reschedule. This guy had a choice of using the ramp and he chose not to. He set his own destiny.
This is just a bunch of crap with the police wanting to pile on..The guy probably feels bad enough. Go after the company not the driver..If equipment failure was the problem.
BS..I bet the non american wont give a damn..The driver has responsibility to drive or not..the company and driver are at fault.
Driver is the ultimate person in charge of rig….if not safe dont drive…down shift to lower gears required on downgrades…this driver did everything wrong…no way he should have hit a speed that fast if he was doing his job correctly…
If you drive a truck, YOU have accepted the responsibility of the action involved in moving that truck. It makes me sick to see a bunch of steering wheel holders blaming every body else for what is definitely the drivers fault.
If he could not stop that truck, then he should have put it to the right and saved lives.
I have known drivers who are no longer with us because they chose to put the lives of others ahead of their own. If you are not willing to do that, the you don’t deserve to be behind the wheel. Go sell AVON.
He blew by at least one runaway ramp, and then CHOSE to cut back across several lanes of traffic instead of rear ending a different truck, he’s getting off easy, I’d be calling it first degree murder and looking for death penalty.
And the feds answer is to put 18 year old drivers behind the wheel. He was a green horn that didn’t speak, read, and understand English. He most likely had no idea what the ramp was for, ever ask a driver a question and got back, “no speaky English” ? That’s our system letting them down, had they required him to read, write, and understand English to get his CDL, and gave him proper training, this wouldn’t of happened. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a question about an escape ramp on a CDL exam. That’s taught out on the road. But running for cheaper freight rates, the company’s can’t afford to properly train drivers. This driver is a victim of our system of pushing rates lower. Every broker, shipper, receiver, trying to push freight out at less than $2.51 cpm in 2019 dollars is responsible for those deaths and injuries. All expenses are up, maintenance, parts, fuel, price of a truck, all tripled, way above the cost of inflation, while the rates have fallen. So companies have to cut costs, less training, hire (take advantage of) people who can’t speak English, and now let’s put teenagers behind the wheel. All that is not this drivers fault. He was working a job trying to make an honest living. He had no intent to hurt anyone, and now people want to further ruin his life? Really? Guilty are the ones pushing cheap freight down the road, not this driver. He’s another victim of our system!
Steve, you crack me up with some of your comments.
You pretty much hit the nail on the head there.
One thing I don’t agree with you on, the driver was a victim here….I don’t think so. His victims where the victims.
Now, perhaps the driver was put there by mistake, but, he chose to drive the truck…some responsibility HAS to fall back on the driver.
He will now have plenty of time to think about his mistakes in prison.
You are absolutely right..
Truth.
” Got backed into last night in Penn. by a Werner driver from Burma. 5 months driving, one and a half years in Country with a Canadian CDL. Broke a mirror and paid $200. cash. Go figure ! “
That may have been when he discovered he had no air, were you there?
For first degree murder you’d need to prove that he intended to kill THAT person. Which seems unlikely.
He’s GUILTY because, as a PROFESSIONAL DRIVER, he had a responsibility to be able to READ AND UNDERSTAND ENGLISH so he could understand the signs for the runaway truck ramps that he could have used instead of ramming into stopped traffic like a moron. As an alternative, he could have popped his air brakes for the tractor. It wouldn’t have been pretty, and he might not have survived, but those 28 people wouldn’t be injured or dead. In this business, being stupid has consequences.
You are totally and completely right!!!
Unfortunately for this driver, there are lots of cell phone videos of him NOT using the Runaway Truck Ramps…
He couldn’t, there was another truck in front it
No, he had plenty of chance to use it. He chose not to.
No. That truck was in the breakdown lane miles beyond the runaway ramp. Video clearly shows the ramp is clear.
Mechanical failure or not, he had LOTS of time and dozens of opportunities to avoid involving others- from the runaway ramp to voluntarily leaving the road for soft ground or even walls to scrub speed/stop.
I don’t think he could understand English which is required to hold a C D L. But??????
Not sure about that, I just took me hazmat reup test for like the 7-8th time. This time they offered a choice before I took the test, spanish or english. I was like what?
I watched a video showing him coming down the hill before the wreck. Could have hit the runaway ramp. Still negligent.
They man is clearly at fault. Any trucker worth his salt knows how to run down a hill using only Jake’s. There is also video of the guy driving that clearly shows him running past a runaway lane without attempting to hit it. Negligence and ignorance caused this accident.
You were not there, but you got it all figured out, huh, Jake use is outlawed in parts of Colorado that DO have hills. Last time I drove in a 2014 international the jake was soo quiet, and had so little lag that I just left it on, I figured it was safer
As though I’m hovering over the brake constantly. His may have been very loud
He MAY have been at fault, but for you to decide based on this sketchy report
Makes you just as bad as the prosecutions case.
What on earth are you talking about? I have never seen a stretch of mountain road in ANY state that wouldn’t allow you to use a Jake.
NOW, I’d agree, not every engine brake is going to slow a truck down the same. But, who is operating the equipment? Shouldn’t you know this about your truck and therefore, be EXTRA cautious?
And, how about when the brakes DID fail….all these excuses don’t answer WHY he chose to use 4-wheelers with people in it for his “crash pad”.
So apparently you have never driven down a mountain?
What a bunch of idiots posting here defending the fool. Ever hear of pretrip inspections? I’m sure the brakes didn’t suddenly go out after he started driving. The company “forced him” to falsify log books? Did they hold a gun to his head? Did they hold his writing hand while he filled out logs? HE is responsible for his own actions.
There is a video of him going past a runaway ramp when he was already out of control. That alone justifies him being prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
I am not defending this person because I do t k ow and I was not there. As no e of you. But I have had a brake failure happen at the beginning of my descent on a mountain so it dfl was not because of going to fast. It was scary as hell. I can not tell you if I passed a ramp or not because everything was happening so fast. I love the Monday morning quarterbacking on what he should have done when most of you if not all may have ended up doing the same thing as he did. I am sure he did not choose to ram the cars as oppose to taking an off ramp. But in the circumstances of panicking while trying to figure out life or dead decisions with no time to think most of you may have done worst. If you are so dam smart, why are you driving trucks for a living or whatever you do. Why are you not creating the next iPhone or building the next Tesla with all this intelligence and quick thinking. You are so quick to vilify your own that it is no wonder that the government, public, brokers, companies, etc.. abuse you all the way that they do. You dont stick together. Just read the posts. You are a shining example of why your industry is the butt of everyone else. I am not saying he is innocent. And I am not saying he is guilty. But with no evidence then you have to look at his track record. Perfect driving record with no issues. So if no one can stand behind that then your industry really is in trouble. Now if he has a string of tickets, falsifying logs etc… then I can see everyone going there.
Saying it was his companies fault is like saying it’s his mothers fault. Just because he didn’t stay in school and become a Dr.
You can blame the fmcsa, the company he worked for, or whatever you want but the fact is 4 people died and someone is going to pay.
That was down right murder in my book. And the guy that put him behind the wheel and the person that signed off on this guys license should be sitting right next to him in court facing the same charges. This guy does not speak or read English. And there is plenty of dash cam video of him flying down the mountain blowing by two runaway truck ramps.
Correct
I agree with you 100% it was his choice and he killed those people who had no choice.
He’s supposed to check his brakes and make sure they’re in working order before he starts driving. He passed the runaway ramp. He deserves to go to jail, people like this give truckers a bad name.
He may have checked his brakes pre trip, does not matter. It is easy to melt them down when you are driving to fast down the mountain. He is responsible for that. What is concerning is that the video didn’t show any smoke or fire from wheels???
He missed a runaway truck ramp! End of discussion
I hope all u people who say he didnt do a proper pretrip blow a line lose ur air quick and see how that weight pushes u anyway at 60 miles an hour those brakes wont always stop u I’ve been there and I learned in those mountains in Colorado Wyoming and Utah now as far as runaway truck ramps they are there but with that weight could have he made that truck make one there wasnt one of u in the cab with him and I know that some of u runnin ur mouth wouldnt have had the balls to run it off the the road take a chance on urself getting killed so before u run ur lip and condemn someone u need to be there first most of u couldn’t handle those mountains especially bein from the flats here in Texas so until u have done it dont run ur lip I have seen a whole bunch dont follow safety rules on location let alone the road cuase u all think u know better and u dont sounds like a tragic accident to me
There’s a runaway ramp, that’s what it’s for. He’s responsible. Almost guaranteed he wasn’t respecting that mountain. With the trucks nowadays if you’re doing 45 most engine brakes will hold it back without using the service brakes.
But they can prove he didn’t take other opportunities like runaway ramps to stop.
What ?? The guy didn’t speak or read English because the reports after it happened said he had to have someone translate to him. If he could read English or even been trained on the road, not in a simulator he would have known what the run away ramp he passed was for. I say throw the book at him the company he worked for and the fmsca for allowing him to drive in the first place.
Video shows his guilt after bypassing two emergency truck ramps. There may have been a truck in one, but the 2nd was wide open. Even if his truck did malfunction. He is negligent for thinking he could handle it and passing those ramps.
He blew past a runaway ramp. Hang him.
This is the guy who rolled past the runaway truck ramp, already going much too fast and obviously aware that he was in trouble. He was caught on a dashcam, swerving across multiple lanes, before the ramp.
I sympathize with the equipment failure argument, but he could have saved everyone’s lives by taking the runaway ramp when he should have. It was a split-second decision which led to tragedy, and he probably shouldn’t spend the rest of his life as a criminal, over a momentary lapse in judgment… but then, the victims of that lapse don’t deserve their consequences, either. Their sense of justice will be just as offended by letting him off lightly, as ours is when trucking companies bilk us out of our wages for years or decades, get sued, and then settle for pennies on the dollar.
We can talk about air tanks and hoses all day, and no one is ever going to be able to prove what happened beyond a doubt, but anyone here with a few years of experience driving in that area knows in his heart that this was about speeding. His first mistake was taking the hill too fast for the weight on his truck and the condition of his braking system. The dude almost certainly overheated his brake linings, and that’s how he wound up out of control. Now, he still doesn’t deserve to spend the rest of his life in prison for that; we’ve almost all been guilty of speeding, now and then, and we normally risk a fine and a slap on the wrist for it. What he’s being prosecuted for, isn’t his mistakes (speeding, and not taking the runaway ramp); he’s being punished for the outcome (several dead, lots of injuries, and tons of damage).
This offends us because it is inequitable – punishment fits the crime sometimes, and the consequences other times, and we all read different explanations into why the difference, and who gets victimized. It’s a lot more likely to have something to do with economic circumstances than race, but media coverage and public outrage probably also play a part. Law isn’t justice, and is it usually run be people either occupying, or closely connected to, political office – and that makes the application of law into a political animal. Legal decisions are merely decisions – they are not fair, and if you think that they should be, then I guess that you haven’t lived in this country for very long. You’ll learn…
What needs to happen (and won’t), is that truck driving needs to be recognized as a *profession*, demanding people with good *judgement* skills, given the freedom to employ those skills. Nannying the desperately un- or underemployed with legislation and technology, into driving trucks for slave wages… When we treat drivers this way, we lose the ones with good judgement skills to other professions – often professions that make poor use of these skills – and we recruit those with questionable enough judgement skills, that they found themselves desperate enough to accept a job working for peanuts and lease-purchase scams. If we let 18-year-olds come fresh out of senior cut day and getting drunk/having (largely unprotected) sex behind the bleachers… If we take them fresh from that kind of judgement, and put them behind the wheel of a tractor-trailer going down a mountain in Colorado, with training over the summer… should we be surprised that a crowd of people wind up dead or injured? How much responsibility for that is on the driver, and how much on the society who created the circumstances which put him there? The trucking business, regulators, carriers, etc. – they use the words “professional driver” a great deal, and lay a great deal of responsibility at a driver’s feet, because of those words – but their actions give lie to the words. Instead of imprisoning this guy for the rest of his life for his momentary lapse in judgement, maybe sue everybody responsible for putting him in the position to make those mistakes – and punish him specifically for his crimes (speeding and bypassing the ramp), while punishing those who put him there for the outcome (death, injury, and damage). It’s what we would do to someone who ripped off drivers for their wages for decades – and then they’d settle for pennies on the dollar, long after most of the victims were dead. If this isn’t justice for the accident victims, then why is it justice for truck drivers?
What this article doesn’t tell you is that he doesn’t read or speak English. And drove past a run away ramp because he couldn’t read the signs. I’m a trucker in this region and there were multiple opportunities to put in the ditch before the wreck.
No such thing as an accident any more.
Different skin tone, different outcome.
Maybe if he could read English, AS REQUIRED BY THE CDL LAWS, he could have taken the runway ramp. But because he failed to take the last clear chance to avoid the wreck, he is at fault, “mechanical failure” notwithstanding.
Yeah, his brakes failed – he was coming down the mountain too fast to begin with. His company had been hit numerous times in the previous 19 months with brake issues. Had he come down the mountain in a SANE manner, letting the engine do the work, he wouldn’t be in this situation.
But, because he never took the time to LEARN ENGLISH, 4 people died and numerous others were injured.
All of you drivers who believe he is guilty may very well be correct, but it’s a perfect storm of corrupt laws, bad policy, ignorance on the part of those who are supposed to know, crooked carriers, Bad training. It’s all bad, and will lead to more & more death. I quit a truck job when they expected me to drive illegally, but lucky me, I got a family who has $ and will help. What did he have? Don’t kid yourself, that makes a difference
Say what you will, but had the carrier NOT sent him out illegally, …
his only choice was to quit. Had the carrier not leaned on him, those people would not be dead, what’s the carriers prosecution look like? Better be just as vigorous, or they don’t want to solve the problem, they just want to be free to blame the drivers. Could be you that gets victimized next.
Owner ops?
I’m not talking to you, DOT has been trying to put you all out of business for decades, you guys are the only real truckers left, you know ALL this crap. And you know how to drive, we need more of you, not less.
those experienced refer and flatbed guys, who help keep freight rates up
For all the other company drivers, we owe them support.
Lastly, get a forward camera and “driver legal” for just $15 a month, they ARE out to get you, both are good insurance against driver abuse
Wow, sounds like you think the whole WORLD is out to get you!
As a flatbed O/O, I appreciate the compliment and thoughts that we are the only real drivers out there…I am guessing you are one too!
But, not everyone is out to get us. Certainly not the DOT or FMCSA, or the industry as a whole. They know, we do what others can’t.
Where in the article do you get that the company illegally gave him a truck and put pressure on him to drive it over mountains? I didn’t get that at all. Perhaps, the fact he couldn’t speak or read English, you can make an argument for that…but, is that really the truth?
This wasn’t an accident, it is simply driver negligence. There is no conspiracy here. It is really just a good reminder to those who cross mountains to not overuse brakes. And, if you do end up smoking your brakes, don’t use 4-wheelers as your “crash pad”.
But, you are definitely right about the camera. Not sure about the price, $15 a month seems like a lot of money for something cheap and simple. For well under $100 you can get a dash cam. For several hundred you can get a real nice system with big monitors, tons of recording time, multiple cameras looking forward, down each side, out the back, even one facing the driver, so you can prove you were doing what you were supposed to be doing at any given time.
Take care and, try to calm down…it will help you live longer, lower your blood pressure!
The final responsibility still falls on him whether he is going to let them push him into doing it. If anything, the dispatcher or whoever they are saying told him to falsify his logs should be charged as an accessory, but that still doesnt absolve him of guilt if he was driving illegally.
I havent looked for the video or anything, but if he also bypassed runaway truck ramp that he could have used, then he is right where he belongs.
What’s a “driver legal”?
Trucker Mike, Jon got those missing details from a previous article published on Truckers Report about the same incident.
Jon, Driver Legal (a prepaid legal service that caters specifically to truck drivers) does not do what you seem to think. They pricipally offer discounted legal services to drivers. They few things that they do for free almost invariably lead to work that you will have to pay for, and their discounted rates are suspiciously comparable to off-the-street rates for the same services by comparable (and sometimes the very same!) attorneys.
And cameras can be great, but only when you get access to the video recordings. Carriers will tell you that the cameras they install are there to protect you, but that’s a lie. Those cameras are there to protect the carrier, not you. If they were there to protect you, you would have full access to the recorded video. They’ll tell you that you do, but you don’t. When you want it, you’ll have to beg them for it, and if it protects you at the expense of the carrier, it will magically disappear before you get it. Have your own cameras doing your own recording. Do not rely on carrier cameras. They are there to throw you or anyone else that they can under the bus, for the benefit of the carrier.
Thanks for the props! In this industry 12 years, eleven as an O/O. There are very good company drivers out here also. It’s just to bad that there are fewer more experienced, considerate, professional acting drivers or operators than vice versa. Be safe brother.
Pu-lease!!! That is the worst comment out of some really, really bad ones.
So, if we are to believe what you think, if he was white, he’d have walked away scott-free???
Hooboy. It is no wonder the world is so messed up…people actually think white people can get away with murder, LITERALLY!
Well, kudos to you for being so uptight, so drastically warped and completely off your rocker!
Trucker Mike… you are “the man” !!! I read your comments and it’s like I’m talking to myself. Sure sounds like you have been around the block too.
My company sent me to Colorado to cover a route for 2 weeks. I must have passed that Lakewood exit 30 times in the two weeks I was there. I was there, stuck in traffic. His brakes went out, but there was a pull-out for that and he could have driven off the road to the right a hundred times. He said that when he realized what was happening, he thought he was going to die and so he closed his eyes. He closed his eyes, like a child.
Interesting to see what happens here… but witnesses saying he was driving reckless and speeding 85 in 45 with a semi aint gonna help him very much. He killed 4 people and hurt many others with his lack of common sense and stupidity
The law has it backwards for truckers.. GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT. I see a lot of racism in these charges and I think its totally decusting.. I like to see anyone who is point the finger at this young man… what they would do in that situation.. it’s easy to say what you would do… but in the heat of the moment would you actually do it.
The law is the same for everyone. Your guilty until you prove your innocent. Unless you have money. Then you can pay your way out.
Where is the racism? The only racism I see is in your comment
He’s implying the reason this driver is getting the book thrown at him is because he’s Hispanic. Based on the name I’m assuming.
Seriously?! A white driver wouldn’t have this kind of charge. I immediately thought the same from just reading his name. This whole thing is ridiculous—so if someone’s breaks go out and they try their best to salvage the situation but it results in an accident anyway, it’s murder? Wtf?
Seriously? Maybe had the driver taken (what in legalese is called) the last clear chance to avoid the wreck – taken the runaway ramp – he wouldn’t have 1) caused the wreck, 2) killed 4 innocent people, and 3) wouldn’t be in this massive amount of legal trouble.
This has NOTHING to do with his ETHNICITY (not race), but his lack of proper action that would have prevented this wreck.
Seriously? Maybe had the driver taken the last clear chance to avoid the wreck – taken the runaway ramp – he wouldn’t have caused the wreck and he wouldn’t be in this massive amount of trouble.
He caused the wreck. He failed to prevent it by taking the runaway ramp. It doesn’t matter the skin tone.
And exactly what RACE is “hispanic”??
OMG, are you for real? Trying to insinuate that a white person wouldn’t be charged the same way? Get real!
First, why even go there? 4 people are dead, 6 are injured. How does your comments make this better?
Second, STOP calling this an “accident”. The word “accidental” implies that it was unavoidable.
This driver had TONS of chances to avoid the collision or collide with something else!
For starters, he should have NEVER been in this situation!
His brakes didn’t fail due to mechanical issues. His brakes failed because he is a brain-dead moron who doesn’t know how to cross a mountain!
Millions of trucks go up and down mountains every day without one incident. But, the reason is, not because they have better brakes, but, because they have drivers that KNOW, you can’t keep pressing on the brake pedal in a semi going down a mountain and expect they won’t eventually fail!
He had a CDL, that means he was TESTED on his knowledge of braking systems and mountain driving. If, he still didn’t know, then who’s fault is that? His AND his instructors, the person who GAVE him a CDL, and the person who put him behind the wheel without making sure he knew what to do.
But, I suppose you’ll claim racism against all those people…they saw his colorful name and decided to not divulge all the info he needed to safely cross a mountain pass, is that it?
There is a good reason being able to read, speak and understand English is a requirement for having a CDL, but, I suppose you’ll claim that is racism too, which, I’ll answer you now, ISN’T! I suppose if I went to drive a semi in any other country, all the signs would be in English and umpteen other languages as well as the native language? I don’t think so.
Listen cupcake, rather than wasting your time LOOKING for and desperately TRYING to find racism in everything, and rather spend your time trying to learn and understand things that happen out in the real world?
I have seen plenty of white driver get ridiculaous charges thrown at them in crashes, and no DOT ever gave me a pass on anything because I’m white. Quit calling everything racist.
He had a choice and bypassed at least 2 runaway truck ramps. Its murder
Megan, only he passed a runaway ramp after he had already lost his brakes. He is 100% at fault, no matter what.
Thank you
Ahhhhh hit the run away ramp and racism lmfao hahaha in CO lmfao hahaha I’ve driven the road many times he missed the run away ramp and there’s video evidence of him missing it when he clearly could have taken it… 85 mph coming out of the mountains is racism sorry but your dumb for thinking that
Simply because he’s hispanic, and speaks no English, and you actually think his race doesn’t factor in to their claims, especially with Trump saying they are racists and murderers. You think race doesn’t filter into this discussion? In lily white colorado? People who drive down the I25 hate truckers, we are in their way
Is he guilty, well that’s a different issue entirely, and he may be, we know his name, it’s been widely publicized…..wouldn’t happen if he was white
Using common sense would help going down a steep hill the driver should have been down shifting to maintain the posted speed limit this where experience comes in.
I’ve always driven a stick but one thing that I wonder about is the automatic transmission and if it would downshift in time to help. Still he made the decision not to use the ramps
Drop the racism excuse and look at how much training this driver had in the mountains, did he not have experience on brake management, did he start off the top too fast, did he miss a gear and was unable to get the truck back in gear?? Lots of questions, only he has the answers, but no one will go So far as blaming the government from shifting training from company to schools, truckers used to be the best drivers on the road, but now it’s hard to tell who grew up in it and who just graduated yesterday. I pray for the families involved but the charges should be against the safety director of this mans company also
That is right. Besides he could of used the run away ramp built for that reason!
If there was one between the brake failure and the traffic backup.
There was- video clearly shows him out of control as he passed the runaway truck ramp
There was. Video shows him completely ignoring it.
Oh but yet let’s give 18-year-olds a CDL and turn them loose. Now, who is the brain dead one?
Ha ha ha…Good one!!! Your right.
I agree.
If the ramp were full as he claims, I would have taken my chances and crashed the truck. Kept it as straight A’s I could have to prevent a roll over and dumped it on the freeway. It’s a nasty, brutal side to this job all of us are aware of. Society places us on a whole different level than they do the general public and death would likely be a better choice than sitting in prison for the next 40 years.
What racism ?
He clearly was not qualified to drive that truck and made numerous errors that killed 4 people.
Oh no, you cannot make ANY negative comments about someone with such a colorful and obviously foreign name when you are white and named something as obviously American as Alexander Hamilton.
Realize, my comments are sarcasm.
I DO love that name!!!
Let see!! A smart trucker woulda taken the ramp! A SMART trucker woulda hit the semi on the side of the road rather then go back INTO traffic and KILLING people in tiny cars!!! Let’s see, if I gonna got something……. a parked Semi as big as my rig or a bunch of tiny cars with woman and children in them and no protection what so ever! Do the right think AND HIT THE SEMI!
Yes, but, then he’d have killed HIMSELF!
That is the problem, people only think about themselves! He knew, hitting the cars was a much softer landing than another truck!
Should have NEVER gotten to that point.
Shellie MacLeod, 99% of drivers out there would never be in that situation to start with because they aren’t that ignorant. Thousands of truck drivers go down mountains every day. How many do you hear about losing control and killing people? There had to be obvious problems with the brakes before he even got on the road. Drivers are required to inspect the trucks before operating.
It never would have gotten to that point. I have driven almost every steep grade in the country…
You’d like to see what other would have done in his case ? Really ? Most that know what they’re doing would have taken the runaway truck ramp. Stop with the racial crap. However if you want to go there, maybe if he could have read English and understood it, this probably never would have happened.
Hit a ramp when brakes failed instead of killing people?
Yes, in less than a heartbeat.
The overwhelming majority of us would never get into this situation, because we check our brakes and slow down coming down the mountain.
But if you are saying that you have some doubt about whether you would take the runaway ramp after your brakes failed… You need to turn in your CDL. Setting aside the good of the motoring public, running down a mountain in Colorado at 85mph with no brakes is unbelievably dangerous to your own health and survival. You take the ramp. If you want to live, you take the ramp. Even if the ramp is blocked, you wreck into a ditch or a berm before continuing down the mountain, because Death himself is waiting at the bottom of the mountain, sickle in hand. Everyone else can suck a fat one, and you *still* take the ramp.
If you have any doubt at all about this, hand over your keys to your safety director, and get a job as a Walmart greeter.
THAT stretch of I-70 is dangerous. He should have considered LOCKING THEM UP. (2) QUIT working for these O/O and small trucking companies, They cant afford to keep up the maintenance on their trucks. However, drivers keep jumping from company to company…They , my friend, keep the trucking industry in HOT WATER for the rest of us. 27 years (3) companies leased to. Please use common sense and think of your career, and not job!!
You can’t lock up brakes that are out of adjustment.
Or fried! He should have considered a run away ramp, a guard rail or hitting something else without people in it!
Drivers company jump because the drivers get screwed. Most don’t have mommy and daddy helping to buy them a truck and with what you earn you can’t afford to buy one now days. If you do a company lease purchase they screw you on the miles and you lose it. There are way to many companies out to screw the driver. You jump until you find a decent one
As a professional truck driver. Me personally ! I think a truck driver should obey all signs read carefully. If the speed limit says 20 miles on curves go 15 mph . It’s the same on the interstate 🛣 highway. If the speed limit says 55 mph go that speed. It’s the law they put it out there for a reason. Obey the law at all times . Stop been difficult, and drive safely!!!!
You also need to know what gear to be in on a downgrade to not exceed the posted limit.
Good rule of thumb is “half the speed down that it took to climb up”.
There’s video of him passing a runaway truck ramp. That alone will send him to prison.
Exactly! He failed to take “the last clear chance” (legalese!) to avoid the wreck; therefore, he is at fault.
Where was the engine break
As well as a hill after the ramp that would have slowed him up enough to stop
I watched the video. This man passed a runway truck ramp and knew his breaks were out. Second he could not read write or speak English.
Amen. You can blame the fmcsa for that, but he clearly was not qualified to run through the mountains
I want to know how he got his CDL – reading English well enough to read road signs, as well as speaking English well enough to converse with shippers, receivers, and law enforcement is a foundation of the CDL program.
Many states offer CDL Handbooks/tests in Spanish. As well as other languages… I know of the requirement to read and understand English. However, if that question is asked and answered in your preferred language, it would be answered yes. Because that is the correct answer.
Right!
Dude blew past a runaway truck ramp.
Considering he blew past 3 runaway truck ramps before he caused the accident, and he stated that instead of dumping the truck off into the shoulder he closed his eyes and swerved back into traffic I think they can get the involuntary manslaughter. He had opportunities to change this outcome but didn’t do it
Wow it went from 1 runaway ramp to 3. In a few more comments it will be 20-30 of the ramps he bypassed.
Totally agree!
No one should be allowed to sit on a jury for which a CDL holder is the defendant unless they also have a CDL. And prosecutors should not enjoy civil immunity for the harm they cause when they use high profile cases for political grandstanding.
Agreed..well spoken!!
Amen. Sally homemaker and bill the car salesmen have no clue to the difference between the 4 wheeler and 18 wheelers.
Well, that isn’t completely a true statement or for that matter, practical.
You can’t expect to have a jury of experts in every case you run.
It is up to the prosecutors to establish WHY this driver was negligent. Basically, the jury will have to become educated on the standards of the industry, at least as to how they relate to this accident.
I am sure, in the end, this driver WILL be prosecuted, but, probably not serve as many years in prison as people think.
The sad part is, there are SO many others guilty for their part in putting him in that truck, or giving him a CDL.
It isn’t a jury of experts. Your right is to have both prosecution and defense interview and select a jury of your peers that indicate no bias.
Sure it is. Prosecutors on purposely put this many charges against someone because they know statistically at least one will stick.
Yes, you are correct. But, so what? It doesn’t matter how many charges there are, what matters it the verdict in the end.
Would you rather there only be one charge and the driver skates by on some kind of technicality?
Then you’d be pissed at the prosecutor for not doing there job!
You are absolutely correct
Agree.
I have a commercial license and with the video of him passing the ramp I would at a minimum think he is guilty of negligent homicide or man slaughter. We have a responsibility to keep the motoring publics safe.
EXACTLY! This wasn’t an “accident”…it was negligence, and several times over. He had an opportunity to do something else with his truck, his chose to smash it into people.
I would hang him. 30 years out here, and been down the Eisenhower more than a few times. I normally go around unless I have business in Denver or Kansas.
Right on! He’s a disgrace to the trucking profession.
Most CDL holders I know would find him guilty faster than a jury without CDLs.
I would! Let me on that jury!!
Wrong… jury of his peers, they should ALL be OTR drivers
I don’t believe he woke up that morning with the intention to kill a few people, but he’s definitely guilty of something. He flew right on past the runaway truck ramp, and it was clear. No other truck blocked the entrance to that ramp. Inexperience isn’t a good excuse when people are dead. There are quite a few inexperienced drivers out there who haven’t killed anyone..
You are correct, although what happened is a terrible tragedy, I’m sure this young man never set out that morning to hurt anyone but plenty of witnesses have stated that he had a problem and by NOT taking a runaway ramp, which I believe he passed two of them, kinda sealed his fate. Inexperience as a defense won’t save him but I do agree that the charges are a bit excessive. The prosecutor’s not “throwing the book” at this young man, but throwing the whole damned library.
EXACTLY
I actually agree with this statement. He is guilty of not being able to think quickly enough to react to an immediate emergency. That’s one of the biggest problems with the trucking industry. They don’t drill it into the heads of new drivers to constantly be prepared for anything, have multiple ways out of any situation, use your engine brake more than your brakes when going down a steep grade, IF YOUR BRAKES FAIL USE THE RUNAWAY TRUCK RAMP, or hell the side of the mountain will slow you down if you’re not going too fast. There’s a lot that needs to be done to correct the problems we have in our industry as drivers to make the roads safer.
Wow, well, it was drilled into my head 25 years ago. IF what you are saying is true, we can expect many more of these kinds of crashes to happen. That is sad!
I wouldn’t call this an accident, it was negligence. And, not just on the drivers part
Exactly, we are all responsible for the safe operation of our rigs.
Yeah I’ve seen the various videos. The level of carelessness in his actions is something I’ve rarely seen in my career. Mechanical failure or not, caused by neglect or not, he had plenty of opportunities to prevent that carnage from happening.
EXACTLY – and this is why he’s being charged.
I would hope he didn’t wake up with that intent, if so, there are a lot more serious charges that should be added, like 4 counts of murder in the first degree and 6 counts of attempted murder in the first degree.
The fact of the matter is that it made national news so now the system has to go to the max on punishment. Thay are just trying to keep the law suit count to as low as possible.
Bs if it’s a merchant failure the driver isn’t at fault bc fact is things break even when inspected . If a part breaks causing a vehicle to go out of control it’s just an accident and the fact there isn’t enough vehicle left to determine that’s exactly what happened the constitution requires that the defendant be given the benefit of the doubt the state must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he’s guilty ! He’s not required to prove innocence
HES AT FAULT BECAUSE IF HIS DECISIONS
HE DIDNT HAVE TO TAKE ANYONE ELSES LIFE BUT HIS OWB WHEN HE CHOSE TO RIFE THAT OUT OF CONTROL MACHINE DOWN THE MOUNTAIN AND PASS THE EMERGENCY OFF RAMPS…TO SAVE HIS JOB
YOU DONT KILL PEOPLE…THERE IS NO EXCUSE
I would almost agree with you, except for the fact that the video showed him going past an open runaway ramp. Had he used that, the collision at the bottom of the hill wouldn’t have happened, and the truck could’ve been repaired and put back on the road.
Again, this man is from Houston, the biggest mountain is an overpass, did he know what a runaway ramp was,
Carole If he didn’t know what a runaway ramp was… He had absolutely no business driving through the mountains !!
Ignorance is no excuse for killing four innocent people and severely injuring several more !!
Exactly, he was riding it out like a video game!
Well said
He said himself there was a problem with the brakes. Brakes don’t fail to that degree all of a sudden. He knew long before he hit that downgrade that he had faulty brakes.
This wasn’t an “accident”, it was negligence. His brakes failed because he over used them. It is a part of trucker 101 training. You can’t keep applying the brakes going over a mountain and expect they won’t eventually fade. If he didn’t know this, he had NO business being behind the wheel. This is taught to every truck driver who gets a CDL. You don’t just keep riding the brakes to slow down. You need to use the motor too. If he missed a gear because he was going too fast, then it is still driver error. You don’t just keep careening down the mountain side.
Why is there anyone defending this guy? He blew by 2 escape ramps. He said he thought he was going to die, so he closed his eyes as he rammed all those people. He didn’t think he was going to survive to face the ramifications.
Even if his brakes suddenly failed, he still chose to blow by the TWO escape ramps.
Right on. Now, he needs to face up to what happened. Spending his life in prison is too easy for what he did. He should have to spend every waking moment caring for the families of his victims, and then, in his dreams, feel the pain that every single one of them felt over and over.
This idiot had an opportunity to use a runaway truck ramp but instead drove right past it!
I saw ALL the videos on this accident the day after it happened
As a thirty year old 1099 driver from nc..ive driven all the states including Colorado…ive covered thousands of miles with all sorts of equipment including traveling through Colorado in snow and west virginia on the same trip with no trailer brakes..YEAH!!!!! Ive had brake failure on the 75 south in west virginia
THERWE IS NO EXCUSE FOR HIS ACCIDENT..HIS POOR DECISIONS…
HE WANTED TO RIDE OUT THE TRAIN…HE CAME TO BUNOER TO BUMPER TRAFFIC…
…YOU TAKE YOUR OWN LIFE…NOT ANYINE ELSES…YOU PUT THAT CAB IN A CEMENT WALL BEFORE YOU GO BARRELING INTO STOPPED TRAFFIC AT 85 MPH…
SCREW THIS GUY
HE PASSED BY THE EMERGENCY OFF RAMP…TO SAVE HIS JOB..
AGAIN YOUR RIDE THE CRAZY TRAIN DIWN THE MOUNTAIN..FINE…BUT WHEN THE TRACKS END..YOU TAKE YOUR OWN LIFE AND NOBODY ELSE’S!!!!!!!!!
Did you see the comment by someone saying he shouldn’t have a jury of people that don’t have CDLs? I’d want you on a jury with other CDL drivers.
You are correct!!! There are some really crazy posts here actually DEFENDING this driver! If I was a family member of one of the victims, I’d be looking to take those people out the first chance I could!
This driver makes our profession look TERRIBLE!
This was no accident, it was pure NEGLIGENCE! Accidents are things that happen because of unavoidable failures, this guy had TONS of opportunities to correct his mistakes, he just chose not to, he chose to use the traffic in front of him as his crash pad, and the end result is, 4 people are dead, 6 people are injured and millions of dollars in property are damaged.
The driver deserves the death penalty. Sitting in prison cell the rest of his life is way too kind.
40 years OTR … harps and halos if the tracks end👍
Come on I have 22yrs under my belt, This man drove past a runaway ramp. Is this the type of person we want in a 40 ton truck with your family on the same road. He made his runaway ramp the cars he crashed into! I have never posted a comment on this page but he deserves what ever he gets! And if you think different you dont need a CDL.
I am with you in agreement 100%
I guess that video of him speeding right past the runaway truck ramp will be used as evidence. He could have stopped this from happening. He was either stupid or arrogant.
This is a horrible accident that could happen to anyone. The second one thinks it could never happen to them, they dramatically increase the chance. I’ve driven over 3 million safe miles, about 14 years of those miles were city miles, but none of that matters. The most dangerous mile is the next mile. Complacency causes accidents.
This is a giant wake up call. DOES ANYONE WANT TO DO A JOB THAT COULD END UP WITH AN ACCIDENT RESULTING IN THE REST OF YOUR LIFE IN PRISON?
I’m seriously considering selling out, authority and all. I’d rather work at something else if I’m at risk of prison if an accident occurs.
Agreed..its terrifying to think my occupation has the potential to lock me up in prison for an accident!! Running tanker, in n out of Los Angeles everyday, makes the possibility of prison time way too real. Its like a game of Russian Roulette…eventually…ill get the bullet if i keep on playing.
This was NOT an accident…this was a negligent act, not just the driver is at fault…the company who gave him a truck to drive, the people who hired him and signed off saying his was capable, to the person who gave him his CDL are all equally guilty of these crimes.
Cynthia, if you actually DO drive a tanker, and, really do feel this way, that it is only a matter if time before you are the next “accident victim”, you need to quit driving NOW!
This wasn’t an accident, it was negligence. Now, if you are driving a tanker every day negligently, then YES, you need to stop doing that for a living now, may I suggest being a greeter at Walmart? Much less risky.
I have held a CDL for over 25 years, working as a professional driver for over 35 years. I am PROUD to know that, when I get behind the wheel of my semi, things are safer with me around.
Don’t get me wrong, fear is a healthy thing. It’s what keeps us from taking undo chances.
But, THAT is how you need to look at your profession, because, the moment you are thinking you are no longer in control is the moment you AREN’T.
My thoughts exactly. I like driving but lawmakers have made it to risky.
Huh???? Law makers make driving too risky???
What part of four dead and 6 injured isn’t registering inside your casaba melon?
This CRASH was completely avoidable. Calling it an “accident” is a slap in the face to anyone who was ever IN and accident. This was no accident. This was a negligent act, several of them, and not just involving the driver…from the company who put him on the road, the ones who hired him, to the tester who gave him his CDL.
Brain dead drivers make it too risky to share the road with them.
No, Steve it couldn’t happen to “anyone” and those saying it couldn’t happen to them are right. There was too much negligence here.
Right! And, those who are saying it could happen to anyone need to shred their CDL.
EXCEPT ……. he had SEVERAL opportunities to avoid the wreck, and FAILED TO USE ANY OF THEM! This is the reason he’s in such hot water.
Steve, please do, with that attitude, you are no longer safe on the road.
This wasn’t an “accident”, it was multiple negligent acts.
If you can’t distinguish negligence from accidents, it is time for you to go, and, you really should have never been here in the first place!
You are WRONG…this ISN’T something that could happen to “anyone”…because, if that were true, it means we have millions of CDL holding professional drivers out there who have NO CLUE how to do a pre-trip inspection, how to read signs or how to approach a mountain crossing.
For the love of all mankind, if this describes you or anyone else reading this….STOP DRIVING!!!
I wonder if his name was John Wilson would he be facing this obvious overcharging.
Yes, he is a truck driver, it would not matter if he was one of Hitlers best phoenotype, blonde, blue eyed etc. He had no chance with law enforcement once he got his CDL
Even if the accident happened while he was off duty in a boat
What is the point of what you are both saying here? That this is some kind of conspiracy here?
The driver isn’t responsible to check his equipment and KNOW how to operate it?
The driver did a very, very bad thing here…and so now, he is facing the music.
Why don’t you go sit with the families of the victims in this senseless crime and give them your thoughts?
What the driver did was nothing less then criminal….so, now he faces criminal charges with a real potential for time in jail. He is lucky he doesn’t face a death penalty.
But, see, this is how it works in this country…you are free to do what you want, when you want, but, when you break the laws, you are free to go sit in a small locked room and meet your new cell mates and friends and love interests named Bubba, Comeswallow and The Hulk.
Was it failure due to hot brakes or lack of good pre/post trips? Were brake issues ignored by the company or the last mechanic inspection who let it slide because it was borderline?
It really doesn’t matter now. Lives were lost, families changed and a driver will never be the same. My heart goes out to all of the lives effected.
Amen
Agreed
On other pages I have seen several comments saying overheated brakes could be ruled out because no smoke could be seen when he was videotaped going past the runaway ramp. – The trucking company that employed I-70 crash suspect Rogel Aguilera-Mederos has been cited 30 times for various safety violations in less than two years.
Castellano 03 Trucking, based in Houston, Texas, had ten violations related just to braking issues. Two of those brake relations violations were so serious the trucks were given O.O.S. citations (Out of Service) meaning they could’t keep driving until the trucks were towed and repaired. I’d say an improper pretrip plus an inadequate Daily Vehicle Inspection Report from the previous trip were a factor.
For those not familiar with the industry, drivers must fill out an inspection report at the end of the day. The next day drivers must review that report and not operate any vehicle that has not had noted defects corrected.
The driver himself wasn’t cited that many times; it was the company. The company was also cited for having drivers that could not read or speak English. This driver claims he doesn’t speak or read English – could be why he blew by the runaway ramps.
If he didn’t know what he was doing and (because he couldn’t read the warning signs) blew down the mountain, even new and properly adjusted brakes wouldn’t have kept him from burning them out.
Ya, but, what is your point? Are you trying to say it wasn’t the drivers fault because he didn’t understand the signs? That is wrong. To have a CDL in this country, you are supposed to be able to read, speak and understand English. The sign saying steep downhill grade and Runaway Truck Ramp should have been observed.
As well, when the driver SAW the steep hills, even if he can’t understand English, he should know enough not to keep pushing harder and longer on his brake pedal. As you said, even new brakes would eventually fail.
WOW! Good reply! If this is all true, seems like it would be an open and shut case…all these other people responding here complaining about overzealous prosecutors, over reach of govt, racism, etc should ALL shut up and go away now!!!
This guy could not read or write English-language, hardly spoke it.
This alone should have disqualified him from obtaining a CDL.
He probably had ZERO training in negotiating mountains, and likely it was HIS driving that fried the brakes.
He HAD to be using excessive speed in a 45 mph zone to not use gears to slow down and should in any event have left the road altogether and avoided impacting other vehicles.
This driver, his CDL trainer and top brass at his company should ALL receive prison time.
Unqualified drivers should never be put into service….that is tje real CRIME
That was not a “hill”…..and no, just jakes ain’t gonna do the job.
Jakes do the job just fine. I’ve been driving 3 1/2 decades; been over the “Hill” dozens of times, using jakes every time – and come into Denver with cold brakes, because I never touched them all the way down – I let the engine keep me slow.
Find the right gear for the downgrade and the weight, and you’ll never need to use the service brakes.
Really, proper gear selection and just engine braking can get you down any mountain. The exception would be a heavy hauler. However let’s say you’re right, proper gear selection, engine braking, and the occasional light pressure and release of brakes does. I’ve been over and back that stretch with 45k in the box, never an issue, every other range east and west also. There are 1000s of others also, that get it done every time safely!
You are correct.
As well as the ones you mentioned, IF he couldn’t read or speak English, the person who gave him a CDL should also be fired.
Typical of today’s Prosecutors to throw charges up against the wall and see what sticks. The driver can only hope for a common sense judge during his Preliminary Hearing, and get most of those charges dropped. I doubt the 4 count charge of Vehicular Homicide will go away, but I think the others will be dismissed in the furtherance of justice.
We don’t have a justice system. We have a system of law and prison for profit.
Oh PULEASE! Put down your crack pipe and start breathing pure air for once.
Where is the profit in having 4 dead, 6 injured and millions of dollars in property damage?
Listen, if you don’t LIKE the laws we have in this country, PLEASE, find the exit door. Your part of the problem here.
The laws in EVERY other country are exponentially worse, more difficult, and FAR less fair than in the US! Please, go experience something outside of America before you say anything.
You think you could get away with doing something like this in Mexico, Canada, or any European country? You’d be DEAD before you ever got to trail!
It is SO easy to blame bureaucracy, the government, this country for people’s short-sighted and frankly STUPID behavior.
Grow up and take responsibility for action!
The driver did a boo-boo, now it is time for him to take it up the bum-bum. THAT is how it works around here…go ask the families of the victims how they feel about it.
Just what kind of Sheriff are you that wants to dismiss criminal negligence? Maybe if you were right in front of him when he was barreling down the hill you’d have more common sense.
Yes, your right, that IS how it works. What is your point?
Would it be better we only charge this driver with 1 count of something and take the chance that on some technicality, he walks away a free man?
Then, you’d be bitching about the police and prosecutors not doing their job.
So, please, let them do their job, you do your job, (if you have one) and, don’t get stuck in the middle of it!
Recently Boeing Jets had mechanical malfunctions or engine issues and kills hundreds, they don’t hold the pilot responible. Brakes fail daily on semis most of the time we can get control and stop without incident, clean our shorts and fix the issue. Was the DOT inspection up to date? Did the company’s mechanics sign off on a recent saftey inspection? Truck driver school falsely cleared the driver to drive? To many variables to just assume who is at fault.
they do if they FIND pilot Error.
In this case do we see Driver ERROR?
He by passed a runaway, he did nothing to slow himself.
Did he grind against the guard rail??
Did he grind against the hillside when he crossed over??
What I see is driver error.
Exactly. Brakes fail every day but how often do you read of people being killed because of it? You do have a valid point about safety inspections, especially with a company that has been cited for 10 brake violations in the last 2 years.
Ya, but….in your example…the pilots didn’t keep flying those jets knowing the plane was in trouble! I have known of only one pilot who ever did…he is dead as are dozens of innocent people, and, it ended up putting a regional air carrier out of business back in 1984. My roommate was part of the post-trip inspection crew who went through the planes mechanical & safety functions after each shift. This driver kept driving his truck knowing his brakes weren’t working! BIG difference!!!
Yes, brakes fail…maybe not “daily” or “most of the time”, if so, you’d be reading about a whole lot more firey crashes.
As far as a DOT safety inspections…you are wanting to blame the company and the mechanic. It is the DRIVERS job to check those things and NOT take off driving a truck that doesn’t have a current one done. It is called a pre-trip inspection. If you hold a CDL, you are supposed to know how to do one, and, actually DO one before ever getting in a truck and moving it.
Why does everyone want to blame everyone else but the driver here? Where others at fault? YES…assuming he couldn’t read or speak English, it starts with the person who gave him his CDL license and goes all the way to the company who gave him the keys to that truck and everyone in between who signed off on him as a valid driver. But, ultimately, he was the one behind the wheel when the accident occurred.
If a pilot experiences equipment trouble and ditches his plane into downtown New York City at full throttle, when he could have ditched it into the Hudson at near-stall-speed, he’s probably going to prison… assuming that he survives.
Aiming for the most densely populated area and closing your eyes is unbelievably lousy judgement. He’s going to prison.
Trucker Mike, accidents are almost always the outcome of *somebody’s* negligence. What makes them accidents, is that the outcome does not match the intention. Accidents can still be crimes; he did not accidentally speed down the mountain, but he did accidentally kill a bunch of people. I seriously doubt that he had any intention of killing those people, at any time – he simply found himself in circumstances (created by multiple errors in judgment), in which he felt that he had run out of options. Lots of bad judgement, but no murderous intent. Dead people just the same, and he will certainly get the book thrown at him for that; that’s how the *legal* system works. *Justice*, here, would be to hold the people responsible for getting him into that situation, responsible for their roles, too – but because that almost certainly won’t happen, and the news spotlight is on the driver… The driver will pay for the *outcome*, and not for his specific crimes, because the penalty for his specific crimes is not severe enough to satisfy public outcry. If everyone who had a part in this tragedy, had to answer for their specific crimes, then the penalties might be severe enough, in aggregate, to satisfy public outcry. But his carrier will probably be covered by insurance, so the owner/s will sell off his equipment and freight contracts, and move to Tahiti. No one at the DoT office issuing the license will even get a phone call questioning their testing policy, and the mechanic who last looked at the brakes will just point to the pencil-whipped DVIR to disclaim his responsibility – if anyone even bothers to ask. No one is even asking, here, what caused the traffic stoppage at the bottom of the mountain, that gave the driver so many victims to plow into – but it’s possible that there is responsibility, there, as well. We’ve all seen unnecessary traffic jams caused by lane closures for road work that isn’t really being done… None of these things will be explored, at all, because what makes news is the driver. Punishment is supposed to fit the *crime*, not the outcome – but with so many crimes not making news and therefore not being prosecuted, it’s easier to target the broke, illiterate immigrant, and this is what appears to be racist.
I have to point out to those on here, banging that drum, that it isn’t – a broke, illiterate white guy would be just as easy a target, but white guys in this country can usually at least speak, read, write, and understand English, fluently. It is his media prominence in the event, and his lack of resources with which to evade responsibility or offer a defense, that makes the driver such an easy target – his race (ethnicity) is relevant only to the extent that it affects his language skills. And the white people on this forum are pretty much sick and tired of this accusation, because of it’s persistence in the face of clearly contradictory evidence, because the accusation only ever goes in one direction, and because the overwhelming majority of us do not experience white privilege in any form. We’re just as blue-collar, hard-working, and broke as you are, and there’s no secret white-people society for us to join and get bags of money. There might be rich-people societies like that, and maybe most of their members are white – or green, or purple – you’d have to ask the rich people. Working blue-collar white people get it in the rear just the same as everyone else; it’s just not called “racism”, and it doesn’t make the news, when it happens to us. White nationalism, in the form that makes the news, only exists because those people are so angry about being held responsible for racism that predates them, that they figure they might as well become guilty of it. Want racism to continue? Give people reputations as racists. Expect racism from people, and you will eventually get it. Want people to stop seeing race? Do what the German, Jewish, Italian, and Irish populations have largely done – stop pointing it out. For a generation or two, there were problems, but once these populations developed native language skills, the physical differences (while still noticeable) went largely ignored. Do we even still track these details in statistics, or is everyone just lumped together under the heading “Caucasian”? People who act differently get treated differently. People with freckles still hear about it, a little, in their youth, but we get over it. Same with body hair or baldness, acne, or any other physical difference. Bang the gay drum, or the skin color drum, or the gender drum, or annoy people at 7am on Saturday with the Good News, and you bring being treated differently upon yourself.
This was a terrible tragedy, brought on by lousy judgement from a number of different directions. It was eminently preventable, and we are choosing, right now, to pick a scapegoat because of his vulnerability (not his race/ethnicity), punish him severely, and neither learn nor change anything.
What a sad sack are we.
Limited English language comprehension, which means he couldn’t read the signs; blew past the runaway ramp.
This young man had NO BUSINESS driving in the Rocky Mtns under those conditions.
I can’t say guilty or not, as the investigation is far from over, but some of the blame has to be due to inexperience
If he can’t understand the “runaway ramp” sign, then whoever issued him a CDL is responsible as well
Very sad inside after reading this, what a tragedy. I somewhat live in fear each day knowing that one mistake can land a driver in jail.
WHAT, one mistake? Try about 2 or 3 dozen mistakes!
If this is really what you live in fear of, do the right thing, quit this very second!
Yes, one mistake CAN land you in jail, so, if you truly are that “afraid” you either need to quit driving or, protect yourself, get some camera’s in your truck…not only facing forward, but down each side and one facing YOU so you can prove you were doing what you were supposed to do at any given moment.
This driver DESERVES to be in jail, so do the people in his company who put him in the situation. He made way more than 1 mistake.
Drivers go up and down mountains every moment of every day all over this country, you don’t read about anyone else smashing into stopped cars, killing and injuring multiple people!
Stop blaming everyone else and start looking inward for the answers.
This driver made lots of bad decisions that ultimately caused loss of life, injury and property loss. He deserves to be locked up the rest of his life, and certainly, not to ever hold a CDL again.
I agree there’s a lot of drivers out there that don’t know how to read the English language but where in this article did it say that the driver was unable to read the English language. I personally think that lack of experience is the issue the driver should have started to down shift to maintain the posted speed limit along with using engine brack.
He had a Spanish interpreter when he went to court. Another article states “In the case of Castellano 03 Trucking , it had a violation in August of 2018 because “Driver cannot read or understand the English language sufficiently to respond to official inquiries.”
Even more recently in December of 2018, the company was cited because the driver could not “Understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language.” The driver was not named.
Well, if what you say is true, that he couldn’t read the signs, who the heck gave him a CDL in the first place? Kind of an important part of driving, reading signs.
It was an interstate highway the speed limit through there is 65 not 45. It was past the speed restriction of 45mph for commercial trucks by 3 miles. Not making excuses for the driver just correcting the author of the article. The driver should have used the runaway ramp he past at 75mph up the hill. He should be charged to the fullest extent of the law. I’ve driven down that mountain 500 times if not more and never smoked a set of brakes. By the way I was 20 mins behind the guy.
Well, you should have gotten 5 seconds in front of him so you could have used YOUR brakes to slow him down in time….GEEZ!!!
You know I am kidding.
Regardless of how fast the speed limit was, fact is, he couldn’t stop due to his own carelessness.
Not guilty of all charges.
…..OK, then, next case! Said the judge on planet backwards.
We know your only joking, RIGHT?
Having driven that road many times, I know if his brakes were bad he had many slight uphill sections that even if his brakes were not working he could have stopped that truck using his transmission. His video taped actions show he knew he had brake issues long before he crashed but he chose not to stop. He accelerated and kept going. He made a bad decision and killed people. Not the first time a driver has been prosecuted and held responsible for actions that caused a fatality.
You do have a responsibility to the motoring public every time you start your truck.
The company he works for should be held responsible if they hired an inexperienced driver and put him in a truck that was unsafe and under a load he wasn’t ready to haul.
But I am so tired of everything being racism. Stop making him the victim. Innocent people died because he did not do his job.
Just my opinion.
You are exactly right
True that
If what you said is true then the company most certainly knew and he is getting the book thrown at him because he refuses to say so. But ofcourse that is like your comment, can not be proven.
Just wait, the company management will also face charges.
I agree
Completely agree. What kind of training/experience did this driver have? The company he worked for has a history of equipment failures and inadequate maintenance practices. Was the driver ever trained for driving on mountainous roads? Was his tractor even equipped with a Jake brake? Its obvious that the driver made some bad decisions and the company failed to ensure proper training and adequate equipment was supplied.
Allen n crown royal
Paragraph five
States
Runaway truck ramp was blocked
Police stated same on CBS news
So
???
Are you work in for the da?
The Runaway Ramp Was Not blocked. The shoulder right before he collided was bocked by another truck hauling mattresses.
Good?
emergency lane as in shoulder of the road not run away ramp, learn how to read.
he could have done what 90% of us would have done and once past the truck in the break down lane we would have been grinding against that guard rail hard. If that didnt work there were 2 choices to make, over the right side or slam into the hill side. Just closing your eyes and hoping for the best doesnt cut it. Your the professional driver not those 4 wheelers.
Right. And, should have never been in that situation to begin with, having to make a choice on what to hit, assuming he was properly trained and passed tests on his own merit.
Anyone with an air brake endorsement on their license knows, you can’t rely on just your brakes to slow you down going over a mountain.
From another article “Cell phone footage referred to in his arrest affidavit shows Aguilera-Mederos’s truck out of control on I-70 Thursday afternoon racing past a yellow highway sign that reads, “Runaway Truck Ramp 2000 Feet.”
“I question if he even knew what a runaway ramp was let alone could he read it?” asked Emery.
The video shows Aguilera-Mederos barrel past the unmistakable sign as if he never read it. “
I think the trucking company should be held accountable too for sending an inexperienced driver to those dangerous road of Colorado.
Yup. They are the ones who put him in that situation without making sure beyond a shadow of a doubt he knew what he was supposed to do.
The Prosecutor is who ultimately decides what the guy is charged with, not the police. The headline is incorrect.
Well, the police can charge him with what they want, the prosecutor decides whether or not the charges will be made formal. Take the Jessie Smaullette case…police charged him accordingly, prosecutor let him go because, well, she is a moron and, is friends with his family, but, we won’t go there!
As a former retired criminal investigator, and based on it being a mechanical failure as indicated, if true, charges should never have been brought. This man went to work with the intent to support his family, not kill someone. This could have happened to any one of us.
Agree.
Your background as a criminal investigator OBVIOUSLY never spent a nanosecond of time in the world of heavy duty commercial vehicles.
I can take a brand new set of the BEST brakes in the world and cause them to fail EXACTLY the way this driver did…it is called OVER USE.
It is taught AND tested to all CDL drivers who obtain a Class A or Class B CDL. It is beaten into the heads of every driver who has ever worked in this industry in every new-hire safety class they have ever taken.
For whatever reason, this driver didn’t seem to absorb or heed the warnings and ended up causing a VERY tragic, senseless and COMPLETELY avoidable mishap.
He has been charged appropriately. You know as well as anyone, half of these charges will be dropped, and, the man might serve 2 out of 5 years in prison, which is NOTHING!!! Hopefully, he will NEVER hold a CDL again.
What else you got there, smart guy?
Criminal investigators obviously are ignorant of FMCSA requirements for inspections before and after each trip. A written inspection noting all defects is required after the vehicle is parked for the day. The next driver is required to read that report and not operate the vehicle unless all those defects have been corrected.
This company had 10 violations for bad breaks within 2 years. 2 of those were bad enough to have trucks placed out of service.
Unfortunately the driver could not read the signs. Colorado is very good about warning truck drivers when they are going to be decending steep grades. There are large warning signs in english. Also he had no expierence or training on mountain driving. When you start down a grade like lookout mountain with a full load you use your transmission and jake break to hold you back so your brakes dont overheat. When you do use your brakes you apply your brakes to drop your speed 5 mph then disengage to let them cool. If you ride them they will overheat quickly. Need better training and the government have to decide if they will enforce the ability to read and speak english or start putting all the road signs up in spanish.
The training is sufficient. I have held my CDL for over 25 years. They beat it into your brain about brake fade and overheat failures.
If this driver didn’t understand that concept, whose fault is that???
I thought reading and understanding English already WAS a requirement for getting a CDL. The question to be asked is, who is handing these things out to those who cannot?
And, please, do NOT suggest we convert all signs to English AND spanish, because, the next thing, other people are going to claim discrimination and we will have 15 languages as well as stick figures on signs acting things out!!!
We are not a nation of immigrants. We are first and foremost a nation of laws. The U.S. Constitution does not say that the paramount duty of government is to “Celebrate Diversity” or to “embrace multiculturalism” or to give “every willing worker” in the world a job. The Preamble to the U.S. Constitution says the Constitution was established “to provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty.”
As our founding fathers recognized, fulfilling these fundamental duties is impossible without an orderly immigration and entrance system that discriminates in favor of those willing, as George Washington put it, to “get assimilated to our customs, measures [and] laws.”
Lest there be any doubt this Independence Day about the perils of ignoring the founding fathers’ advice, I invite you to contemplate the abyss at Ground Zero. “The safety of the republic” is indeed at stake.
If this guy couldn’t read English, did he ASSIMILATE?
Good point!
Is being able to read and speak English no longer a requirement to be a CDL holder?
It used to be. And, considering road signs are all written in English, it still SHOULD be! Of course, the next thing will be an outcry for having road signs in 14 different languages.
That’s the worst part of coming down from the mountain. Very bad grade and unforgiving mountain side. I don’t know how many times I made that run but as drivers we are hyper alert on our brake fade and failure. There is nothing but a horror story when a driver looses his brakes coming down a steep grade.
Also i will bet he had no knowledge of how to check his brakes to see if they were adjusted properly. All truck drivers should be knowledgable about how the brake systems work. We had anincident several years ago in Kamloops British Columbia where a new driver tried to adjust his brakes and he turned the slack adjusters the wrong way thus backing off the brakes. He then started down a long grade and the truck ran away on him. He and 3 or 4 other people died as a result. He did not understand how the brake system worked.
Nearly all trucks today have automatic slack adjusters which should NOT be adjusted. If they are out of adjustment they are defective and need to be replaced.
You check your brakes with a hard application before you get on the highway.
He drove past a runaway truck ramp. After that point “my brakes failed” stops being a reason and is just an excuse.
amen
24 counts of “attempted 1st-degree assault”?? 1st-degree charges mean that an act was intentional or pre-meditated. Seems like almost everyone involved believes it was an accident so those 24 counts are ludicrous. Sounds like this prosecutor and his supervisor need to be removed from the case, this is a grossly overzealous prosecution.
3 counts of “crime of violence”? Again, ridiculous. I could understand manslaughter charges or 2nd or 3rd degree charges. This trucker’s only chance is a change of venue, he has no chance of getting a fair trial anywhere near the Denver metro. Sad situation all-around.
I just mentioned this below, but, will do so again here…it is typical that multiple similar charges are filed right away, knowing that, some will be dropped while others unfounded. You can call it overzealous but, otherwise, you only charge one crime, and by some technicality the offender gets off, the prosecutor looks like a fool. Got to remember one thing, these guys are elected officials. They MUST look good to their constituents.
If you get into a heated argument, leave the area of the argument and get a weapon and return, then murder the other, you are now guilty of first-degree murder. You don’t have to have days or months of planning.
In this instance, I don’t thing first degree is called for; he didn’t intend to impart harm or death on others – but vehicular homicide or manslaughter is quite likely.
He failed to take the “last clear chance” to avoid the wreck by not taking a runaway ramp – this leaves him culpable for some level of murder charges.
Could have started as a rookie mistake trying to downshift while going down the mountain and not being able to get the truck back in a gear due to the rapid acceleration, at that point the brakes wouldn’t last long without having the engine to help control speed. From the video I seen it would have been nearly impossible to be able to steer that truck into the runaway ramp without rolling over, I’m sure if he was aware of the stopped traffic ahead he would have made an attempt to crash into anything to avoid involving other drivers but I can’t imagine taking that chance of flipping the truck when all he needed was a slight hill upwards to slow him down Most defiantly preventable but they will need to find hard evidence to call in criminal. Accidents happen. Unfortunately.,, Only the driver of that truck will be able to say what happened and why it ended up like it did. If you don’t have experience driving trucks you can’t possibly understand the many factors that could have played a role in this. With the truck destroyed I can’t see how anyone can prove what happened wether at fault or not
Your right. But, they will get him for negligence, and, no doubt, doing 40 mph over the limit. Those facts can’t be disputed.
It is typical in these situations to give multiple tickets for things, that way, one of them is BOUND to stick.
Recently, I had a maxi completely blow, and were it not for the grace of god and a red light changing to green at the last possible second for me to be able to avoid hitting anyone, I would have done what this man did. It was seriously luck, missing a car full of children by a matter of less than a foot. This happened on a downgrade in Kentucky, when I went to take an exit to a receiver. At the top of the grade, I was slow… at the top of the off ramp, I was at 25 mph. At the on-ramp opposite the light I was still at 25… there was NO CHANGE IN SPEED WHEN I applied the brake, and my emergency brake did not pop (engine speed apparently was enough for my air to maintain pressure). Yes, I could have shut the engine off to overcome it, at a loss of steering control which is the only thing that kept me upright and out of other vehicles.
As a 30-year resident of Denver, I know the hill this driver came from and could see that his speed would possibly have reached 85, if he had no Jake and kept up shifting instead of downshifting…. If his truck was an automatic, and he did not know how to use the cruise/Jake setting to keep it from going crazy, he would also have this issue…. if he had recently come out of the mountains, his brakes had just had a great workout, with a max truck speed allowed at 35 eastbound until Golden, where the speed is 70, and then 65 when you are across Lakewood. 45 perhaps is a construction limit, or that was the speed other drivers were able to do due to traffic (time of day). There is no posted 45 limit outside of a construction zone, so this article oddly lacks complete information, but the down grade is continuous from exit 259 (Morrison) to the 70-76 separation. The “uphills” are so gentle you don’t have to accelerate at all and the truck can pick up serious speed.
I hope this driver gets a break, and I would testify to possible failures on his behalf…. but he will never drive a truck again. Lives were lost and I don’t think as a young man he can ever see himself behind the wheel again.
I have driven this teeny tiny hill about 100 times.
Even the first time I was downshifted, running the Jake and barely touching the brakes.
I new where the runaway was and was ready and willing to use it.
I came down 1 night hot. Didn’t gear down enough.
No traffic and it was a long smooth runaway for me.
I almost had to burn clothes because of that night.
Couldn’t have happened the way you described. You blow a maxi, you loose so much air, your engine would NOT be able to keep up with the lose in air. That, or, you either had no brakes on that axle or were so far out of adjustment, it was LIKE you had no brakes.
Last year, someone messed with my air lines while I was at a stop, unbeknownst to me at the time…I found out who did it later and nearly killed him where he stood. It was a retired trucker who was now working security for a company I was shuttling trailers back and forth to. He saw my air lines where, in his opinon, “not hanging right” and decided he would do me a favor and fix them for me. I had only walked away for a moment to get paperwork after hooking up.
We were RIGHT near the interstate, one right turn, and onto the ramp.
It caused the supply line to rub on a drive tire after I made my first turn and, getting up to speed getting on the interstate, wore a small hole.
It sidelined me real quick! I was able to patch it, back the trailer brakes off and hobble off the interstate to get the line replaced and tighten up the trailer brakes again. In THAT situation, the engine could BARELY keep my air high enough to keep the emergency springs from engaging on the trailer.
So, you blow a maxi, without any other issues, your going to stop, QUICKLY and then not move until you cage the brakes or fix it.
My guess is, someone had backed off the slack adjuster so far, you were able to roll with or without air.
But, one thing is for sure…you were lucky!
The mechanical. Failure if any is solely from overspend down a long grade overheating the brakes so yes it is 100% driver error besides the fact he intentionally struck vehicles in front of him a real truck driver would take the truck off the roadway in a case like this. He should get no less than life in prison for four counts of murder.
One of the few really good comments here. Your right. He needs to be locked up and keys tossed. Personally, if I caused a tragedy like this, I don’t think I could live with the guilt. But, being forced to live with it is part of the punishment, so, justice will be served.
Now who hates truckers? It’s the same b.s. with these cops! Or because he may be latino? We need good drivers, but with shit like this how many r willing to be trained? I won’t go to Tx.!
This has NOTHING to do with his skin tone, and EVERYTHING to do with the fact that he can’t read English and didn’t take a runaway truck ramp – and the wreck wouldn’t have happened!!
A lot of brake failures like this can be caused by the treadle valve sticking. There has been around 50 government recalls for this problem over the years and many a driver has spent years in prison for nothing.
Prosecutors are more concerned about making themselves look smart and important in these cases than caring about the truth.
Rickey Gooch
Justice for Truckers
go find the treadle valve so we can see it was the cause.
Oh you cant because everything is toast.
Defense aint got a leg to stand on but to take a plea.
EXCEPT he failed to take the last clear chance to prevent the wreck – he failed to take any of the runaway ramps; there is video evidence of this. This leaves him culpable.
Unfortunately no matter how I slice it I still come up with driver fault. If he overheated his brakes on the downhill then he would have been aware and should have opted for the runaway truck ramp so poor judgment. If he was using the Georgia Overdrive and by the time he perceived the stopped traffic he was 85-in-a-45 and couldn’t stop in time then he’s criminally reckless driving. If indeed there was a mechanical failure well we all know air brake systems default to engaged in failure so that severe a defect will be driver failure to detect and document during pre trip inspection. Its regrettable but every reasonable excuse falls back on the driver.
You are correct, and funny with the “Georgia Overdrive” comment, I wonder how many people under the age of 40 would even know what that means.
The exception here in your comments is the fact that air brakes default to engaged in failure.
There isn’t a separate brake system that engages when the air brakes fail. It is the same system, one set of brakes.
When you run out of air, the brakes engage. HOWEVER, if the brakes are already smoked, the “emergency” system will not function either.
It requires the driver KNOW what to do in a case of burnt out brakes. It is part of the basic knowledge test that all CDL A & B holders take about air brake systems.
So let me ask this…
If this woulda been wilber and edna in their dually superduty pulling their 35ft 13000lb 5th wheel and he lost his brakes coming down the mountain….would the driver be facing charges? My guess is not.
This is simply a case of being guilty because you drive a truck. Plain and simple.
Perhaps it’s because professionals who are trained and working in certain jobs are held to a higher standard. You could compare it to a doctor being sued for malpractice. People are supposed to know what they are doing in their chosen profession, in this case, transporting goods with a truck. One factor I’m not seeing discussed is what gear was he in going down this mountain? Were there signs that said steep grade ahead and trucks must use a lower gear? Is there a way this could have happened even if he was in lower gear?
most likely he would
Wilber and Edna WOULD be facing charges, maybe not ALL the charges a CDL holder has, but, if it was deemed that they could have stopped earlier and CHOSE to not do so, that there was solid video evidence of it, yeah, they’d be charged.
However, it does bring up a point…I know some states are starting to mandate knowledge testing of RV owners, I am not sure about a driving test, that seems like it would be a good idea too.
But, the average RVer is out there for recreational purpose, not business. The profit greed factor is missing in your argument.
Wilbur likely would have been able to read English and taken a runaway ramp…….
From what I read he doesn’t read or speak English. If that is true then his company and the state that issued his license should also liable.
So true a good friend of mine,driver for forty years ,going into Arizona on i10 big dust storm a Mexican driver stops in the roadway because he could not speak or read English were the signs clearly state I. Case of dust storm pulled to the side feet off the brakes and lights off but noo he can’t read the signs causing a pileup
I thought it was a requirement to be able to speak and read English in order to have a CDL?
Last year, I was at my local testing center, getting my address changed on my CDL after I moved. The person in front of me couldn’t speak a lick of English, or understand it. They had a “translator” with me. I was trying not to eaves drop, the conversation was revolving around an endorsement for tankers, it was unclear to the testing center people if the man was there to get one.
The people working in the center sent the guy away.
I would have too. It was my turn next, and, I asked the person working behind the counter about the DOT mandate for speaking and reading English for CDL holders…he said “That’s my understanding how it works”. Now, this was someone who ALREADY HAD a CDL!!!
That is some scary stuff.
You can take the written test in numerous languages, including Spanish, Farsi, Hindi, French, German, etc. If you don’t speak or read one of those languages, you can have a translator there with you, and take the written test ORALLY. This mainly happens in the bigger cities, where political correctness tends to hold sway over the Law.
Our overjudgemental society of nitwits is ready again to convict another CDL holder without solid evidence. The knuckle heads of law enforcement are looking for an excuse to start a real episode of civil unrest. They refuse to work as hard at diplomacy as they do at their agendas. If this absurdity continues on this path of destruction, it will scare off any potential new drivers and most of the veteran drivers leaving the trucking industry in disrepair. The question of concern will be when not if, will I be convicted for mechanical failure. Russian roulette is no a good game to play even if it’s the only game in town. So, Why did his brakes fail and when was the last time a mechanic looked over the brakes. No evidence… no conviction, period. If this hideous treatment of guilty before a trial without evidence to convict CDL holders does not come to a halt very soon, there will probably be a bigger shortage of drivers than 60 percent in the very near future. Reap what you sow. Just another reason not too many want in this career field or are willing to stay. We need a new beginning. Hold the ones accountable that cause the mechanical failures. All Truckers need to refuse to drive unsafe company equipment. Mechanical failure can happen anywhere and anytime.
My guess is the brakes failed due to over use.
Drivers ARE supposed to refuse driving unsafe company equipment. It’s part of getting and having a CDL. It’s called a proper “Pre-Trip” and “Post-Trip” inspection. And, you are supposed to mark down on your HOS log that you did them!!! So…do you actually DO them, the right way? For many drivers the answer is probably, “NO”.
I don’t think ANY driver or company for that matter really wants to drive inadequate equipment. I think companies and drivers are in tune with safety concerns.
Are there going to be one-offs where this can happen? Well, let’s see, we are talking about humans doing a task and not computerized robots, so, YES, things can and do fall through the cracks and, well, unfortunately when they do, crap like THIS happens.
But, everyone needs to blame someone or something, except for themselves of course.
The driver did something wrong. End of story. Perhaps OTHERS did wrong things to complicate this story…very possible. The truth probably won’t come out, not for a very long time. In the mean time, there are 4 people not breathing anymore. And 6 who are injured. All because a driver made mistakes. Let’s not forget that.
But when a cop mows down a mother and children going to get his donuts they don’t do a thing.
And, which country are you referring to that this happens in? Doesn’t happen in USA. Put down your crack pipe for a few minutes, let your head clear.
I guess he overused the brakes until they were useless….always use the engine brake with low gear ….!!!
Inexperienced on mountain driving 70,000+ no more than 30mph combined with Jake brake know your equipment from proper physical pretrips and post trip acknowledging the danger signs and being ready to act quickly in an emergency situation and identity the runaway emergency ramp always leave yourself a way out if this driver would have had proper skill training then the Smith system would have been part of his daily routine
I am a truck driver for over a decade and i see so many truck drivers speed recklessly down hill, follow too close down hill. If this driver ahd started the hill in a low enough geat and a moderate speed, this wouldn’t have happened. Then again who am i to say. I drive how i drive and not here to advise others, just an opinion.
After close to 50 years of having a commercial drivers license, I have a pretty fair idea of how I would react if I were put into the same situation as this driver being prosecuted or perhaps I should say persecuted. I would’ve done my best to keep myself from getting in a situation like that in the first place. I can say this because I have Years of driving experience under my belt and have been in minor situations like that from which I have learned from. When I first started driving, my teachers were very experienced truck drivers in their own right and rather than just give me a crash course on how to get the truck from point a to point B spent many hours with me making sure I was proficient enough to keep myself and those around me from being killed which I don’t think was the case with this driver. My personal opinion is that this driver crested the top of the hill with a 400 plus horsepower truck with no real idea of what could be in store for him in part due to his inexperience and partly because his instructor neglected to tell him because he probably didnt know himself. This driver came down that hill at 80+ miles an hour probably paralyzed with fear and literally not knowing whether he should crap his pants or go blind. I have seen the video of the driver swerving all over the road I don’t recall anything about burning brakes.
It seems like authorities are trying to paint this event as being somewhat premeditated.
Changing the subject just a little bit, 30 years ago I earned a private pilots license. So much time was spent teaching me how to keep myself from getting into life threatening situations and if I happen to get into one how to get myself out of it. Even the check ride was to see if I was a survivor. Airline pilots spend a lot of time in the flight simulator and they are put into situations that are so realistic that it scares the heck out of them. It definitely wouldn’t hurt to adopt some of these same training principles in the trucking industry. A trip around the block with a drivers license examiner and backing up through orange cones does not make a truck driver.
Mm
Hmmm….simulate difficult driving situations and practice how to get out of them. That sounds like a good plan!
How about too, we don’t allow new drivers to do higher-level dangerous driving until they have passed some additional classes AFTER they get there CDL…like, driving in mountains, high winds, ice and snow, heavy rain, thick fog, etc.
I’ve been driving 25 years. I have driven plenty of mountain roads. I choose to stay off them, but, I own a trucking business, so, I have that choice. Rookie drivers must do what they are told to do.
So, I like this idea.
But, as far as the driver being “scared” and possibly not knowing what to do in that situation. Simply put, that isn’t an excuse for killing and injuring people. Perhaps, there are some other people at fault here along with the driver, like, the company’s safety dept for not making SURE the driver was trained in mountain driving BEFORE putting him in that situation.
The one issue here that I think set this whole thing up for failure, is the fact that he says he doesn’t read or speak English. If he couldn’t read all the warning signs or the runaway ramp signs, he couldn’t know that he had a way out. On this aspect, I blame the political correctness that’s rampant in most large cities (including Houston, the 4th largest city in the US), that allows drivers to take the tests in numerous languages.
HOWEVER, because he did fail to take the last clear chance to avoid the wreck, he set himself up for serious legal problems.
The driver needs to be punished for his actions. The company needs to be penalized severely for their actions, which can include criminal charges. The CDL testers and issuers should face some form of charges as well, for ignoring federal law.
I hope this starts a push to get those who don’t speak or read English out of trucking in this country. Our roads would be safer.
If I were to go to Saudi Arabia (for instance), and I wanted to drive, I’d need to learn at least written Farsi. In China, I’d need to learn their language – as well as local laws. Back in 2000, I took my mother on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Scotland. We wanted to drive around by car, so we got a brutish driver’s guide, and studied the heck out of it, so we would know what the laws were, what the highway markings and signs meant, and so forth – and had a BLAST, and no troubles with the police, because we knew what the laws were!
The one issue here that I think set this whole thing up for failure, is the fact that he says he doesn’t read or speak English. If he couldn’t read all the warning signs or the runaway ramp signs, he couldn’t know that he had a way out. On this aspect, I blame the political correctness that’s rampant in most large cities (including Houston, the 4th largest city in the US), that allows drivers to take the tests in numerous languages.
(2) HOWEVER, because he did fail to take the last clear chance to avoid the wreck, he set himself up for serious legal problems.
(3) The driver needs to be penalized for his actions. The company needs to be penalized severely for their actions, which can include criminal charges. The CDL testers and issuers should face some form of charges as well, for ignoring federal law.
(4) (stupid moderator algorithms..) I hope this starts a push to get those who don’t speak or read English out of trucking in this country. Our roads would be safer.
(5) If I were to go to Saudi Arabia (for instance), and I wanted to drive, I’d need to learn at least their written language. In China, I’d need to learn their language – as well as local laws.
The police just need to remember this the next time someone is injured or killed by an “accidental discharge” of one of those weapons. Doesn’t matter if the weapon was defective or not, the cop holding it is still responsible.
HUH??? When was the last time (or even FIRST time) a cop claimed he/she killed a perp because his/her gun went off by accident?
And, what does your comment have to do with burning your brakes out going down a steep road and NOT knowing how else to stop? Not making a good decision? This driver had no brakes, yet, continued to drive until he met up with stopped traffic. That is a recipe for disaster, and, well, 4 dead, 6 injured, I’d say one happened.
Boy, there are a LOT of comments here in a short time period. Obviously, a touchy subject.
Who was the crack-head who claimed there was racism? I don’t see any additional comments to back that up! Sheesh, this is the world we live in, just because someone has a foreign name, we assume there must be racism involved when he is charged?
He CLEARLY had a mechanical failure with his brakes because he burnt them out!!! Truck Driving School 101 should have made it very clear in his head that you cannot keep riding the brake pedal going down steep roads and expect to eventually not lose brake function!!! BEFORE you get to complete loss is when it is time for drastic measures, find an emergency ramp, use the trans to slow down, etc.
He killed 4 people, injured several more, and did a LOT of property damage. His brakes were not the cause of the accident, merely a symptom of either a stupid or inexperienced driver in a mountainous area.
Jail is where he belongs. For how long, well, that is up to the courts to decide.
We cannot allow a driver to conduct themselves this way.
Mechanical failure my azz!
That is like saying the motor blew up in my truck, but, it wasn’t my fault!
“Oh, hey boss, the motor blew apart due to mechanical failure!”….No, the motor blew apart because you over revved it and wouldn’t let up off the throttle!!!
Let’s face it, there are stupid people out there who do SERIOUSLY stupid and dangerous things. The place for them to be is put in a cell and locked up so they can’t hurt anyone ever again.
Amen!!
If they runaway ramp was full as he claims, he should have crashed the truck on the side of the freeway. Crappy decision to have to make as you may not walk from it but it is the nature of the beast for this industry.
And there are videos that showed the runaway ramps were clear. The only thing blocked was the “emergency lane” – the shoulder.
In a corrupt transportation industry that money is the core of the problem instead of making safety is priority. Not the driver nor the owner of all the trucks on the road care for safety, it may be 2 percent of all drivers and big tug owners do care for safety. Safety programs exist but on paper, flyers, and test your knowledge on computer, but never applying it while driving a big rig nor fixing the mechanical problems when it’s needed. I’ve been driving since 1991 and had numerous commercial vehicles experience and in those years I’ve came across numerous mechanical problems that automatically should red tag a rig, but companies and owners aren’t interested in the welfare of the public but instead the money that it may delay to make if the mechanic must “fix” the issue. And yes the driver is at fault at all times if he/she doesn’t put it out of service. I lost numerous of great paying jobs because I literally put trucks out of service, I became a finance liability for many companies which in turn I be seeking employment again and again because I refused to get screwed by any owner. I see DOT received bribes to turn the other cheek, and I seen other drivers just roll with the unsafe rigs without understanding the ultimate outcome once an accident occurs. All drivers should quit blaming and stand firm to not drive unsafe rigs.
First off in the video where the driver is not taking the runaway ramp, the speed limit is 45 mph for trucks there. In a 45 mph zone and he was doing close to double that. He chose not to take the runaway ramp. There was no one blocking it, in fact he chose to change lanes moving into the far left lane and almost running over a pickup instead of taking the runaway ramp.
It’s a safe bet at this point his brakes were already cammed over, meaning after repeatedly getting the breaks hot the brake pad no longer make contact with the brake drum for braking. Hence, not seeing the smoking brakes. Either way he chose to avoid the runaway ramp while doing almost double the speed limit.
His lawyer can claim all kinds of things to get his client off these charges, that’s his job, at one point his lawyer stated that his client couldn’t help it because the truck was leaking brake fluid earlier that day. Air brake equipped vehicles do not use brake fluid, it’s the equivalent of blinker fluid and checking those spark plugs on your Diesel engine. And if it so happened that if their was brake fluid involved, which we know there wasn’t, and he did have a brake fluid leak, which is fact there wasn’t, then he chose to not get it fixed before bee bopping down the mountains?
Another thing this driver chose to do was when he was driving 85 plus mph on the shoulder beside all the stopped traffic and he came upon the vehicle blocking the shoulder in front of him, he chose to turn left into the stopped vehicles instead of right, into the grass next to the shoulder.
He drove right past a runaway truck area.
He thought he could ride it out.
IMHO he isin the wrong because he past the bail out.
I could be wrong but every day I get to my truck I have to do a pre trip inspection of said truck trailer and whatever other equipment I might use for the day. Is this guy not responsible for the same thing in his duty’s as a commercial truck driver. If there was a known issue with the truck and company said drive anyway then better find a better company to run for. This guy also passed a run away truck ramp on his way down the hill if not multiple depending on where he was coming from.
You can lay this one right at the feet of FMCSA. They are the ones who refuse to enforce federal laws which state, in part, in order to drive commercial vehicles in the United States, you must be proficient in reading and writing English. I see drivers all the time that cannot speak a word of English. I don’t understand why there are not more people killed than there are. This guy blew by runaway truck ramps for whatever reason, but I am willing to bet he did not know what they were because he cannot read English. It is time to enforce the law as it is written in regards to this matter, instead of turning a blind eye because there is a fake “driver shortage”.
He should have driven it off the road period runway ramp or into the ditch don’t Matt should have stopped somehow
Ok , here’s the deal.
The brakes got hot and failed.
The driver was scared and panick stricken . That constitutes sometype of temporary insanity or something down those lines . Have you ever been scared or horrified and couldn’t think straight temporarily ? Do you think that something like this couldn’t happen to you . Would you want to spend your life in prison for being scared to the point that you couldn’t
Function normally . Yes it could happen to anybody in any language. How would you want to be treated if it were you ?
He didn’t use the emergency truck ramp, and he killed people through his negligence !
How would you like to be a family member of one of the people killed by this fool !!
I would not be in his situation scared to death not knowing what to do because with a 45mph truck speed limit with a full load of lumber on my trailer, I would not have needed any peddle brake because I would of had my truck in a gear to where my jake brakes alone would of had me come off that mountain at or below the truck speed limit. Letting my jake brake hold me back all the way down that hill not needing to use any peddle brakes at all. In return because I take every grade this way I would have had fresh cool brakes to assist in stopping for stopped traffic.
That is how responsible drivers come off grades to not endanger themselves, their vehicle, and other motorist.
And people that have any regard for others don’t use stopped traffic as a stopping tool, they find a way out with minimal casualty..
Reckless driving going 85 in a 45 zone, witnesses say. There’s your jury. A 45 zone isn’t the highway.
I feel bad for the guy, his family and those that were injured and died., and he definitely appeared to be remorseful, but he “caused” the accident,. If he was going 45, able to see traffic stopped, he may have NOT caused the accident. Also, in this case, I don’t think race matters or should be used as a diversion from what was “caused”.
I have driven that trench literally hundreds of times… they should NAIL this guy !
What the article fails to mention, but there is video proof to prove it from others who were driving along I 70 down the mountain heading eastbound, is that this fool lost his brakes because he was going to fast with a heavy load and not driving properly what the article fails to mention, but there is video proof to prove it from others who were driving along I 70 down the mountain heading eastbound, is that this fool lost his brakes because he was going to fast with a heavy load and not driving properly !
He passed and open emergency truck ramp, that is put there for this very reason !
I have no doubt he brought his brakes out, by driving too fast with the load… Because I’ve seen it so many times on the stretch by other drivers !
By refusing to use the emergency truck ramp, he was negligent !
Instead, eagles barreling down the hill at 80+ miles an hour and uses stopped traffic as his means of stopping his truck… And in so doing, for completely innocent people are dead instead, Eagles barreling down the hill at 80+ miles an hour and uses stop traffic as his means of stopping his truck… And in so doing, for completely innocent people are dead !!!
There were also many other people physically injured some of them severely, and many others that no doubt will have psychological scars the rest of their lives !
This is not about the mistreatment of a poor truck driver , as an earlier comment alluded to … this is about a negligent truck driver who had no respect for the law, coupled with his lack of experience or understanding of how to drive properly and safely, that led to the deaths and injuries of several people !
I watch so many of my fellow truck drivers every day… And they are right on the asses of other truckers or four wheelers at 70, 80 Miles an hour, with no room to stop if something were to happen !
To all of you who do this ( and you know who you are ), well all I can say is you suck !
I will end with this… If I were the person that did something like this, I wouldn’t want to live with myself… And would even be able to sleep at night !
I see alot of comments about the legal requirements of being able to speak/read English in order to hold a CDL. However, I specifically recall an incident at the Wyoming/Utah Port of Entry (Westbound I-80) when I, along with 3 other drivers, we’re called in for document checks. Three of us proceeded without any issues, but the fourth driver just smiled and shook his head repeatedly as the officer questioned him. The off over went as far as showing the driver pictures of road signs, and asking the driver if he knew what the signs meant. Again, more smiles and nods. The officer then explained that the driver was required to speak/read/understand English to hold a CDL, then handed him his documents, and let him leave. All of this, after determining that this driver couldn’t even discern the meanings of road signs.
Pathetic!
everyone is over thinking this. It’s simple brake fade. He came over the top at cruising speed, hot his brakes hot, therefore, brake fade. It’s evident by him driving past a runaway truck ramp, tells me he had no training in mountain driving. I say, go after his employer for sending him onto a situation he wasn’t trained for.
Brake failure.bs…im a mechanic for 30 yr..no such thing as brake failure anymore .only thing that can fail is a bad brake valve which will cause the brakes to lock up or if the brake shoes were heavily worn which a pre trip would have found that..this is a case of failure to control a vechile..85 in a 45 speed is obviously the problem here…
I seen the video and he ran right by the truck ramp for trucks that loss there brakes and he speed right by it know one was in the way of the run away truck ramp! And then he could have taken the truck off the road to the right side but this driver was just thanking about him self and not the public! The courts should throw him under the jail! It’s clear he was completely incompetent and should have never been behind the wheel of a 18 wheeler!! Just keep this in mind! He loss control of the truck he was supposed to be trained to handle!!!
He ran right by the run away ramp and then did not even try to ditch the truck off the road because he was only thanking about himself! This driver was completely incompetent and should have never been allowed to be behind the wheel of a 18 wheeler!! I say throw him under the jail. These trucking companies will hire anyone these days and they should have to pay for this!!
I have not seen anybody mention what gear he was in, I’ve driven those mountains many times, if he would have been geared down and Jake on high, he would not have been going that rate of speed!! So many fly by me going down hill and riding the brakes it’s stupid, and doesn’t save you much that much time.
To everyone defending him: What about the runaway truck ramps he passed? He made no attempt to enter them.
NEGLIGENT & RECKLESS, PERIOD.
The guy deserves to be in jail
He drove right past the runaway ramp
And instead of hitting the shoulder or the guardrail or any of the many other obstacles in the 8 miles, he hit 28 cars and killed four innocent people
If you’re a driver and have no brakes
You hit the ditch , not 28 parked cars
And I don’t believe it was any mechanical failure
He might have overheated the brakes but that’s his own fault for not knowing how to drive
LET ME ADD MY TWO CENTS AS A RETIRED TRUCKER. I THINK THIS DRIVER WENT DOWN THIS MOUNTAIN TO FAST AND NOT IN THE PROPER GEAR. THE TRUCK GOT AWAY FROM HIM AND THE BRAKES OVERHEATED AND THEN FAILED. AT THAT POINT HE FAILED TO TAKE EMERGENCY ACTION, I.E. TAKING THE RUNAWAY RAMP AND THEN BY THAT TIME IT WAS TO LATE TO TAKE ANY CORRECTIVE ACTION THUS CRASHING INTO TRAFFIC. SAD INDEED.
Ya think?
Okay guys, forget all of the facts and comments and attempts to sway your opinion to match that of others, and imagine for a moment that you were in this 23 year old man’s shoes… Take a deep breath, clear your mind… seriously!
You don’t know that 4 people are about to die in a 28 car pile-up.
You’re from Cuba with a green card, and managed to get hired by Castellano 03 Trucking. A company with just 5 trucks and 5 drivers. Unbeknownst to you, this company has had 30 safety violations, 10 brake related, and 2 out of service in just 2 years. Remember, you’re a 23 year old Cuban, people aren’t pounding on your sleeper to have you drive for them…
You’ve been coming down I-70 from the Eisenhower Tunnel at 11,000 ft. You’ve made it 25 miles to Idaho Springs at 7800 ft., a fairly flat grade 13 miles long. Beautiful drive, peaceful, relaxing, everything’s fine. Somewhere after Genesee Park you feel that your brakes aren’t responding like they should. You start changing lanes, so you can drift to the outside lane on the curves, as seen in this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggZ42zUGoS0
You see an orange sign that says “WINDING 6% GRADO ESTANCIA DISPONIBLE DURANTE 3 MILLAS” except that it’s in English and you can’t read it. You’re doing about 65 MPH along with the four wheelers, pressing your brake and getting just enough response to maintain 65 MPH.
You see another orange sign that says “PISTA DE CAMION RAMP 2000 PIES”, but you can’t read it either, because it’s in English. You see a sandy shoulder, that looks like missing pavement, NOT a big dirt ramp that goes up the steep hill. Cuba doesn’t have runaway truck ramps! But, even if you did know what it was, you would also know that it might cost the small company you work for $8,000 to tow you out, and you’re definitely going to lose your job, and probably your green card. You’re not sure that you can’t get the truck stopped yet… 1 1/2 miles after the runaway truck ramp (that looked like a sandy shoulder) you’ve gone around the last sharp curve. You see the valley of Denver, traffic is still flowing with you.
You continue down the hill, going over a few flat spots, where your speed levels out, for a bit, but you’re not slowing down, and you sure can’t stop. You haven’t touched the gas pedal for many miles. If you can just get to level ground, and coast to a stop on the shoulder, you’ll be ok, and no one is injured. Then there’s an accident ahead. 65 MPH traffic has come to a complete stop. You pop the emergency brakes (unverified, but he claimed to), nothing is working. You know that you’re going to hit SOMETHING, and the guardrails won’t let you off the road. POP QUIZ, WHAT DO YOU DO?!
TIMES UP! You just hit the cars that were stopped because of the accident that had already occurred there.
We see the runaway truck ramp sign, but if you didn’t know what the sign said in Spanish, how was he to know?
Yes, he screwed up. He deserves some punishment, but he was a green card holder who BELONGED to the company he worked for.
For all those who talk crap because he didn’t speak English, answer this question HONESTLY:
You get an invitation to drive a truck in Canada. They guarantee in writing that you will make $2,000 per HOUR, (40+ hours per week) but you have to get a authorization from the Canadian government to take the job, would you do it?
Now you get to Quebec Canada, where most of the population is French. The street signs are in french, but a red octagon still means stop, white rectangle is the speed limit in kilometers, and you hear Canadians telling you to go back to the U.S. They hate Trump. Would you give up your $2,000 an hour job and come back?
The MONTHLY income for Cuba is $25! What many of us truck drivers make PER HOUR! For those who don’t think anyone should work here who wasn’t born here. please tell me where everyone like you was when California cracked down on immigrant farmers? They were offering $20 per hour to do what the immigrants were doing, and the CROPS ROTTED! I DARE YOU to work as hard as many immigrants do! You’ll drop dead in the first week.
I rather pay $400 per month for food than $1,000 if we kick out the only people who will harvest the crops, and drive for companies like Castellano 03 Trucking.
He’s a driver in a bad spot, that caused a few tragic deaths and injuries, not Satan.
Update: I’ve read other articles, and acquired more information.
1. He had only been working for Castellano 03 Trucking for 2 weeks. Which leads me to believe that he had never driven outside of Texas, and possibly Cuba before. When was the last time ANY of you guys saw a driver smoke his brakes in Texas? We don’t have runaway truck ramps here in the Lone Star State.
2. Friends say that he could speak and read English. I’m still not sure that I would jump for the runaway ramp if my brakes are responding at all, especially if it was my first mountain load, where I had ever seen a runaway lane (It wasn’t even a ramp). Like deciding whether to pull forward or backup when a railroad gate comes down on your trailer. Backup and the gate falls between the tractor and trailer. Pull forward, and your trailer may not clear the tracks in time. Of course I gunned it, because the traffic light was green. Yes, I had stopped before the gate, with a the red light.
I’ve NEVER smoked my brakes, but I sure have seen a LOT of drivers who have. Those signs warning drivers coming down I-70 that they aren’t down yet, aren’t found ANYWHERE else in the country, because that stretch is one of the 5 worst in the country (where 2 people and dozens of horses died in 1989).
I”ve also had engine brakes that were so good that I could come down any hill with 80k, pick the speed I wanted, and never touch the brakes, (Volvo 670 with 6 levels) and another that with just 50k I still had to stab my brakes just coming down Tehachapi. (Freightliner with just high and low).
As a long time truck driver I worry about this. Yes there was a runaway ramp and people said he was driving dangerously. But the main point is they don’t seem to care it was a mechanical issue with the truck. So what if I am driving. Say there isn’t a ramp or way out wherever it is I am. I am driving normal, my brakes fail after I did my normal pretrip in the morning (can happen) and my brakes fail and there way no way for me not to hit whoever. Am I on the hook for my brakes failing?
Or is it, he had opportunity to avoid the accident and take the run away ramp or hit the truck on the side. What if there was no out – are they still gonna try to put one of us in jail over mechanical failure?
I know our company put three cameras in our trucks that record constantly after there was an accident and a trucker hit a school bus. Two kids died. They tried to crucify the truck diver and then when that didn’t work they went over the truck with a fine tooth comb looking for anything that could contriubte to the accident. Slightly over the gross vehicle weight. Brakes out of adjustment and so forth. In the end it was found the school bus driver was on meds she shouldn’t have been and ran a stop sign into the on coming truck. So we record everything now. But we can’t predict a mechanical faliure!
Yet another example of constantly blaming truck drivers, regardless of the situation.
I quit driving because after a year and a half there is no money in it.
DM’s with way too many expectations on human endurance.
Mind melting games with receivers like Wal-Mart, Target ECT, with fines for counting you late when your not.
Fines just as bad in your personal car, as they are in your truck. (unfair), suspected first at fault when your not. It’s insane.
I think people are forgetting that you don’t have a lot of time to make a decision. I still don’t know if he was in trouble when he was approaching that truck ramp ? we don’t know if he got into trouble after he passed it , and we don’t know if his brakes failed l.
we don’t know what happened .
it’s not our instinct to run a truck off the road to avoid colliding . maybe he thought he could slalom it to a stop? who knows.
I do know he was doing everything he could just like you would, and I would, this is not somebody with an intent to slaughter people.
if that were true he would have killed 20.
he would have blasted through that whole line of cars at full speed not slaloming, and attempting to stop, and trying to get the truck back under control ..he would never have hit the emergency Lane either.. so this idea that he’s a murderer is wishful thinking.
I feel he was doing the best he could like any of us would.
And I fully agree that anybody who has not driven a rig with 80,000 pounds on it? has no business commenting on this whatsoever.
if you haven’t done the job and you don’t know.
Given he had a good driving record, I don’t know how they can prove negligence. It may have been some kind of catastrophic failure that he could not have foreseen, or it’s possible he didn’t pay enough attention when doing his daily inspection. I suppose they will look at maint records of the truck and trailer, to determine how long it’s been since either were serviced, or if either had a history of brake problems.
As far as his speed goes, he may have been going the posted speed limit at the time whatever happened occurred, but kept gaining speed because of it. I’m glad I’m not involved, either on jury or in the accident.
I could see this going either way, depending on how good a lawyer he has, and how credible the driver himself comes across to the jury.
Tough either way, and four people did die.
He was driving a truck that should not be on the road. Still his fault should have slam into truck on the escape ramp. Did anyone see the dash cam from a driver that seen him swerve a mile before and cross 3 lanes to run a car off the road. His brakes work fine then
Why didn’t this driver use the runaway ramps? He was driving way to fast down that mountain, the speed limit for trucks is 45. It was reported that he was traveling about 70. He was just out of control and didn’t take the proper per-cautions for safely coming down a mountain. It’s just sad another unqualified driver kills innocent people
All the guy needs is a smart lawyer. The cops are reaching (big time) and even in Colorado they need evidence that is conclusive in proving, that this guy wasn’t in trouble coming off a steep grade, that I’ve been down going that way dozens of times, as a professional driver. I can really see how it could have gotten away from him if he had weak brakes, or got them too hot trying to hold his speed down.Things like that happen and when they do someone usually gets hurt, or worse. My heart goes out to all the families of those injured and/or killed. However; the State of Colorado had better have some very strong corroborated and tangible evidence to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that this driver’s intent was to cause death and serious harm. Me, I don’t think they do and, therefore; can’t make any of it stick. Finally, states like Colorado are a big part of the reason that I quit driving class-8 vehicles in interstate commerce. They are predatory and are also completely arbitrary and capricious when it comes to truckers, especially out of state drivers.
Anything less than five years, plus permanent loss of CDL, would be a mockery of justice. Probably needs to be more, but he has to pay for his stupid action somehow.
Bottom line… When in doubt leave the tractor in gear and shut down the engine…
Safely first…
Watch the video. He went by at least one emergency truck ramp. When he did that he owns the results of his actions. Find the video and watch it.
He is from Houston. I don’t know this guy’s experience in the mountains. Maybe it was his first time and he simply rode the brakes until they overheated and lost stopping power. Or the trailer brakes were way out of adjustment and the same thing happened. With a heavy load it’s not that hard to smoke your brakes if you don’t know what you’re doing. The Jake brake helps, but it won’t stop you and with a heavy load you will still accelerate plenty if you don’t help with the occasional brake. But you gotta give those brakes some cooling time. If breaks are out of adjustment than nothing will work. I see plenty of drivers holding their brakes too long, or all the way down. I smell and see a lot of smoke sometimes half way down. We don’t know if it was inexperience, or negligence, or both, but I am not giving him a lot of chances when he stands in front of a jury. Last time I checked a jury is made up of Joe and Jane public, and Joe and Jane don’t like truckers much. Just sayin.
He could have taken the runaway ramp. He could have hit the dirt. He chose to hit those people. I hate it for him and his family, but that was completely stupid.
I realize that when you’re in the situation it can be hard to think straight, but you’ve got to think through these types of scenarios ahead of time, think what would you do? And when you realize those cars aren’t just inanimate objects, but they are somebody’s husband, their wife, their grandpa, their kid, the teacher some little kid with a messed up family totally idolizes, you’ve got to consider, who are these people around me all day? What if I got into a no win situation all of a sudden? What would I do? And I think most men, and women, with any sense of honor would choose to take themselves out before they used 28 cars for crash cushions.
One thing to say mechanical failures or not there was a runaway ramp and he chose not to use it he’s to blame
Hey guys stop blaming the driver for this accident, wait until it happens to you or something happens to you and people start blaming you. I personally think he was just inexperienced. The charges he’s facing are plain racist and unwarranted. Should he be punished? Yes but just as any other vehicle death 1-2 years in jail max. Truckers this could be a bad omen for all drivers in the future. Being put in jail for many many years for an accident. This could happen to you too. People died yes but so what people die every day on American roads
There’s runaway ramps for a reason, he went right past it and never attempted to use it. Maybe if the regulations were followed on being able to communicate in English he would have used the ramp. There’s no excuse for plowed into the traffic, could have put it in the ditch at anytime. He was not in control of his vehicle and killed innocent people but yet he survived.
Guilty guilty and guilty on all charges when they have video of this driver going by the run away truck ramps that were put there for this very reason then there is no excuse for the accident. The man is guilty of all charges don’t waste the time and money for a court case. Lock him up and be done with it.
If he had been in the right gear for going down the mountain…even WITHOUT brakes the crash would probably not have resulted in deaths
Maybe his brakes failed but. ….he shud hav been able to stop at 45mph with a little brake working…my assumption is he came down the mtn grade to fast and his brakes got hot and wudnt stop him after gaining speed…but everday I drive I see these new inexperienced hot rods racing , tailgating, you name it in trks that go to fast up and down the hwys. They bounce from lane to lane and dont look in thier mirrors…most of these drvrs are immigrants and probably dont hav a legal license and most of them cant read or speak english…you can get away with anything out there today nobody’s going to catch you unless you hav an accident..The DOT is worthless except for overweight violations. These outlaws make it extremly dangerous out there so if you can keep your family off the interstates.
For those of you trucker’s who believe he is innocent, you may want to take an air brake refresher coarse. Had his brakes been properly adjusted, even with minimal shoe liner and he experienced air supply failure, at 45 miles an hour the truck would easily come to a stop and in a very short distance with a few flat spotted tires I may ad.
I am Canadian doing cross border work. So I don’t always have the luxury of knowing my route conditions in advance. But as a BC boy, I dam well know what a hill is. How many of you have driven the Coquihalla, Crows nest pass, or the Fraser cannon for that matter? The Coq as we call it, has more than one grade at 8+ with many over ten miles long! There is one decent over 17 miles with varying grades of 5, 8, and 9.
This driver went over that hill without matching his gear ratio to properly control his descent, then relied on his brakes to compensate. Cooked the drums causing excessive expansion and BRAKE FAILURE.
A clean driving record is not a defense to what happened. Pulling the race card after the fact (if this is what is truly happened) is nothing less than minimalizing and exposing one’s culpability.
I do disagree with the charges someone posted that he has been charged with. Most require intention of action that I do not see here.
It is for these scenarios why the responsibility always is placed on the driver.
I would speculate that that this driver became complacent in running hills too fast and sadly it caught up with him. Brakes a little out of adjustment, maybe one gear too high, pushing the speed limit, thinking his jake would hold him, extra load weight he wasn’t experienced with. Easy math to tragedy.
32 years in the seat and I would say that trucks being in way too much of a hurry (pusher by dispatch, payed by the load etc) is far more common then failed brakes. But what was he supposed to say? “I was in a hurry and couldn’t stop in time ?” I find it very hard to believe the brakes just failed with no indication before hand. I find it far more likely he was going too fast, was badly trained, and smoked his brakes and unfortunately 4 people payed for it with their lives. I see trucks going way to fast going down hills daily. The faster you go down a hill the more momentum your brakes need to counter and the faster your brakes heat up. I work in a area that has extreme hills and I drive a truck that is around 140,000 pounds loaded and I never smoke my brakes. All you have to do is watch your brake application needle. If you need over 10 pounds of pressure to significantly reduce your speed and longer then around 3 seconds you are going too fast! I drive some hills that are over 10 miles long and I could do ones that are 30 Miles long because I select a speed that I don’t heat my brakes. Now I understand that we will never know in this case if brake fade was to blame but If one driver out there reads my post and learns to drive down a hill at the correct speed then it was worth my time to write it. Be safe out there guys.
I have been on the road for 31 years. I seen the video. Put a metronome to the video. He did not look to bad. The question is what was going on 10 minutes before the video. The trucks and trailers have auto adjust brakes, HAVE YOU EVER GONE UNDER AND CHECKED THEY ARE CORRECT?
Had any one told him about MOUNTAIN DRIVING? I think the only thing he is guilty of is IGNORANCE AND STUPIDITY.
And yes, I came off Cascade 2 weeks after I was turned loose.
What the heck is a runaway ramp?
I like how everyone says he blew by a runaway ramp and decided to change lanes and crash into everyone. Its almost as if you think you know everything that happened out there. I know we all like to think in a situation where we lose our brakes we’d all be so cool and collected and know exactly what to do. But when your going down long stretches of mountain and if loaded especially you probably will try to snake around cars so you dont hit them and maybe this guy didnt know where the ramp was or he was 2 lanes over and couldnt get to the ramp because of other cars in the lanes. Every second matters and every split second decision brings new consequences. This is every truckers worst fear and to criticize the guys decisions when you dont know ALL the circumstances and immediately say guilty and lock him up is just down right disgusting. Im not saying he is neglible until I see proof because mechanical failures arent always with warning and sometimes happen in an instant without warning.
The reason he has so many charges against him is because the authorities have looked at all the evidence so far. They don’t just pull these charges out of thin air. There’s four dead and many people injured and maybe permanently crippled now..
First there’s video of him 10 miles before the crash going almost double the speed limit out of control and not taking runaway ramps. It shows no one was in the way of that runaway ramp. There’s also many state road cams on that road to gather information from as well.
See whether or not he had or had not taken the runaway ramp, his actions leading up to that time and to the accident are taken into consideration.. His actions that caused him to be in that situation in the first place..
When your vehicle is rolling out of its parking spot with you running after it to try to get back in it to pull the brake is not the action people look at, they’re looking at the action that caused your truck to do that. The action of you not pulling your brake before exiting your vehicle.
What amazes me is the amount of people saying it wasn’t his fault because his brakes failed. Yes his brakes did fail, we know this, however they failed because of his actions which in return makes him responsible. If you’ve ever driven a truck or worked on one you know this is true.
Set aside the point that he made poor decisions after he lost his brakes. Understandable a person would freak out in the situation. However he made poor decisions which lead up to him losing his brakes and for that he is for sure guilty of.
I’m tired of hearing the ELD made me do it, the dispatcher made me do it, the someone else or factor made me do it. No one makes you do anything and with driving 80,000 lbs down the road you should be grown up enough to take responsibility and drive accordingly.
As of now,to my reasoning the only thing that incriminates this man,is bad judgement by missing all of the scape ramps that are provided in case of emergencies like this.
I see a lot of posts wanting this driver to end up in prison as if he intentionally meant to hurt people. What exactly would putting him in jail accomplish? Are they going to make him a better driver in jail? A better person? Help other new drivers not make the same mistake?
The people of Colorado get absolutely nothing for their tax dollars by locking this kid up. How about directing all of the outrage towards better training, more parking, and higher standards.
The trucker is responsible for the condition of his rig. That’s why they have safety inspections . 85 mph in a 45 zone ? Why did he just run into the ditch, before he got to the accident scene ? He is guilty !
I quit driving because after a year and a half there is no money in it. DM’s with way too many expectations on human endurance. Mind melting games with receivers like Wal-Mart, Target ECT, with fines for counting you late when your not.
Fines just as bad in your personal care as they are in your truck. (unfair), suspected first at fault when your not. It’s insane.
I think people are forgetting that you don’t have a lot of time to make a decision I still don’t know if he was in trouble when he was approaching that truck ramp we don’t know if you got into trouble after he passed it we don’t know if his brakes failed we don’t know what happened it’s not our instinct to run a truck off the road to avoid colliding maybe he thought he could slalom it to a stop who knows I do know he was doing everything he could just like you would and I would this is not somebody with an intent to slaughter people if that were true he would have killed 20 he would have blasted through that whole line of cars at full speed not slaloming and attempting to stop and trying to get the truck back under control he would never have hit the emergency Lane so this idea that he’s a murderer is preposterous he was doing the best you could like any of us would
And I fully agree that anybody who is not driven a rig with 80,000 pounds on it has no business commenting on this whatsoever if you haven’t done the job and you don’t know
First of all you all that has never experienced brake failure it’s a serious wake up that gives u a feeling like no other before. In the situation that driver was going zthru at the time, none can say he wasnt gone try freaked out an made sudden move that could of prohibited the right decision. Which I know from experience that it’s so much runningthru your mind an u really dint know what to do. I held on close my eyes hitwall head on w a load. Bc I was scared I couldnt make the curve as Ilost all air pressure. An noone was hurt just me. Folks all thifighting about what the driver is amshould done is way out of your judgement nor can u say u would done differently. No way hell doesanyone knows how much pain an suffering he igoing thru, really folks not our calll nor place to judge him nor sentence him.
He overheated his brakes and lost control, that’s your brake failure but it does not explain why the spring brakes didn’t activate unless he still had plenty of psi.
Just seems strange to me how a plane can crash and burn to ashes almost and they can reconstruct it and find the cause of the crash but because this truck burned they can’t determine the cause? What does this say about our D.O.T. inspectors?
I’ve experienced brake failure. I said alot of prayers and was blessed with no one on the highway but me. Rather shocking
Poor man and the victims families all must be grieving. This is one of the reasons I would always keep it in a lower gear and jake brakes on and go slow down hill. I’m surprised this doesn’t happen more often during the winter with ice/snow when you can’t use the Jake’s and going down a mountain… my prayers to all involved.
I use my jake in the winter.
You just have to use it differently or You can get into trouble.
Keep your truck in a gear that keeps your rpm’s at or below 1300 with just enough jake that with about 3-5 pounds of constant brake peddle it holds you back from gaining speed.
Coming down a grade with only about 3-5 pounds of brake pressure with the jake on at a low speed 30 or 35 mph for example in the winter cold will not heat your brakes up. It also allows for every brake through out your vehicle to be working for you.
The key is using the jake with lower rpm’s in the winter and the lighter you are you can start backing off on your jake setting.
By low rpm I don’t mean below where you start getting into the no jake zone. Of course trucks these days their jakes usually stop working at a certain low rpm to not kill the engine. 1100-1300 range is good, if not too slick 1400.
it’s a misprint. It’s 65 mph there. There wasn’t any construction zone there
on that day. I was there. Just 30 minutes or so earlier, I-70 eastbound was shut down due to an accident between a school bus,cars and an end dump truck at the 266 mm.
His castastrophy was at the 263 mm at the Denver West/Colorado Mills exit.
The video at Lookout Mountain clearly show him blowing by the runaway ramp
at at least 65 mph and swerves across all three lanes and almost hits the silver pickup that brakes hard and runs onto the inside shoulder to keep from getting hit. The runaway/out of control driver’s truck was definitely pouring out brake smoke at the 263 mm, where his only chance to try to stop was the chain link fence on the off ramp. The second video clearly shows a light colored suv pulling way off the shoulder to let him by.
AS of today, he just made 400,000 bail and was released.
Check the news feeds.
The guy didn’t murder anyone. It was an accident with the loss of life. Wait until the widespread use of self driving trucks start killing motorists left and right. Not a single white collar corporate exec will face manslaughter or murder charged. They will scapegoat some $12 an hour truck washer rather than fault the designer, engineers, or finaciers.
These ridiculous, vindictive charges is about class and labor vs upper class (more so than ethnicity).
If truck drivers nationwide went on complete strike and shut down this economy, you all would be leading much more prosperous lives and with 4he respect you deserve from you country.
how come the company isn’t being named in these news reports? they should be held accountable as well
Could it be he tried downshifting couldn’t get it back in gear picked up speed so fast his brakes faded got tunnel vision trying to avoid all the cars at 85mph missed the emergency ramp and could not slow down because he wasn’t in gear so Jake’s not gonna work when not in gear he wasn’t experienced at his young age and made mistakes an panicking truck weaving in traffic was because going too fast trying to figure out how to stop yes could have taken ramp if you dont see it your not gonna take it experience drivers will he was just looking straight ahead trying to avoid cars at 85mph just saying nobody born knowing how to drive in mountains everyone has to be taught how to do it
He DID NOT use the truck run a way ramps, several were passed! This makes him negligent and therefore guilty! As a lic. trained profesional driver you are expected to react in a safe and responsible manner, he DID NOT!
He’s guilty as hell…he bipassed 6 runaway truck ramps that would have prevented this…theres no excuse or amount of justification to refute these charges.
Lol all you flatlanders talking about if or why his brakes failed like it’s important.
The mans brain failed.
It failed to comprehend he was going to descend a steep grade into one of the most commonly congested cities
It failed to understand he was going into an environment where everything Has to be perfect.
It failed to plan ahead
It failed to understand that you should never use service brakes to control your speed
It failed to control his speed
it failed to realize that once speed wasn’t under control internally the runaway ramp WAS the best way to control speed
It made that failure a second time
It failed to realize crashing into any thing other than people was a better choice than hitting people.
It failed to realize it was trading small problems and damage for big ones and life!