Colorado Crash Victims Speak Out on Trucker’s 110-Year Sentence
‘SEALED HIS FATE’
After truck driver Rogel Aguilera-Mederos received a severe 110-year jail sentence—igniting outrage in the form of a nearly 5 million-signature Change.org petition and the attention of Kim Kardashian—the victims of the fiery and fatal Colorado highway accident are speaking out. Meleia Harsch was pregnant when her vehicle was caught in the 28-car pile-up. As reported by ABC News, she told Good Morning America Wednesday that she was frustrated that the driver who caused the crash is now considered the victim. Meanwhile, Duane Bailey—whose brother William Bailey was one of four people killed in the accident—said he thinks “we all can agree that [110 years] is excessive,” but he supports the jury’s decision to convict Mederos for causing the accident. In 2019, the trucker’s brakes gave out, but instead of taking an exit ramp for trucks, Maderos slammed into stalled traffic. It was this sticking point that Bailey found indefensible: “Firstly, he had the choice to pick that ramp. He didn’t. Whatever his real reason was, we’ll never know. But that was a choice by him. He sealed his fate once he passed that ramp.”