'I Have Flashbacks': Semi Driver Rogel Aguilera-Mederos Cries All the Time Over I-70 Crash That Killed Four
JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) - Rogel Aguilera-Mederos said he finds himself in a personal version of hell just weeks after he was convicted of 27 counts, including vehicular homicide. Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 13.
"I am crying all the time, I think about it and I have flashbacks," he told CBS4 investigator Rick Sallinger during an in-person interview in the Jefferson County Jail.
Aguilera-Mederos explained he tried his best to avoid the vehicles stopped on the road, but couldn't avoid them all.
"My life is not a happy life. It is a very sad life because four people died," he said as tears fell from his eyes.
He now faces dozens of years in prison at sentencing next month after being convicted of 27 counts including vehicular homicide.
Video taken by others on I-70 in Mount Vernon Canyon showed he passed right by the runaway truck ramp where he could have pulled off.
"When you lost your brakes, your mind is blocking."
At speeds up to 85 mph and no brakes, he testified he struggled with the gears, "Any, any that would shift the gear in order to stop the truck."
Driving on the shoulder he said he aimed to clip a parked semi, but failed.
He wants people to know he is not a killer, "I hope those families forgive me because it's really tough... my life is going down every day."
Aguilera-Mederos said he wanted people to know that he did not try to run from the scene after the crash. He has said he wishes he had died rather than the others who did.
The one positive he sees is the support he has received from other truck drivers through a GoFundMe page.