(CNN)At least four people died when the driver of a semi plowed into stopped traffic along Interstate 70 near Denver, and that driver is being held on four counts of vehicular homicide, police said Friday.
The runaway semi hit several cars and trucks in Lakewood on Thursday, igniting a fiery crash. Twenty-eight vehicles were involved in the pileup: four of them semis and 24 cars, Lakewood Police Department Agent Ty Countryman told reporters.
Countryman said the driver of the semi is Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos, 23. He has a commercial driver’s license out of Texas, Countryman said. Aguilera-Mederos is cooperating with investigators, he added.
Aguilera-Mederos was behind the wheel of a flatbed truck loaded with lumber and was injured in the crash, but not seriously hurt, Countryman said.
According to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s inmate roster, his next scheduled court appearance is listed as Saturday at 3 p.m. ET in Jefferson County court.
The suspect in custody is Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos
The suspect’s brother, Daniel Aguilera, said Rogel is Cuban and is a permanent resident of the United States. Also a truck driver, Aguilera said he spoke to his brother after the crash and Rogel told him his brakes failed.
Countryman said there’s no evidence of drugs or alcohol in the crash.
When asked whether there were any mechanical issues with the truck, Countryman said it is something his department is looking into, but he believes even if there were a mechanical issue, vehicular manslaughter charges would still stick.
The semi hit cars stuck in a jam due to evening rush hour and a prior crash farther ahead, Countryman said. At least six people were hospitalized with injuries after the crash, according to the Lakewood Police Department.
Video from the scene showed towering orange flames and piles of lumber scattered across the highway.
“We do know that I-70 eastbound traffic was at a standstill or close to a standstill because of a crash way out ahead of it,” he said at a news conference. “The semi was eastbound and ended up colliding with the … cars that were stopped because of the accident ahead. That’s all we know or we are releasing at this point.”
By Joe Sterling, Amanda Watts and Joe Sutton, CNN
Fri April 26, 2019
