4 killed by runaway truck on Denver interstate; driver faces homicide charges

Doug Stanglin
Updated

The driver of a runaway semi-tractor trailer has been arrested on charges of multiple vehicle homicide after his truck slammed at high speed into a line of stopped cars on I-70 west of Denver, killing at least four people, police said Friday.

Police said it took hours to determine how many people died in Thursday's mangled, fiery pileup of 24 car and four semis. Lakewood police agent Ty Countryman said least six people were hospitalized.

The crash occurred on the eastbound lanes of Interstate-70 around 4:30 p.m. in the city of Lakewood, which west of Denver. The highway is expected to remain closed until Saturday.

The driver, 23-year-old Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederon of Texas, who suffered minor injuries in the ordeal, was booked into the Jefferson county jail pending a hearing on Saturday.

Countryman said there was no evidence that the suspect driver had been using drugs or alcohol. He said investigators were also trying to determine if brake failure or mechanical problems kept the truck from stopping.

A firefighter sprays water on the wreckage in Lakewood, Colo., after a deadly collision on Interstate 70 near the Colorado Mills Parkway, April 25, 2019.
A firefighter sprays water on the wreckage in Lakewood, Colo., after a deadly collision on Interstate 70 near the Colorado Mills Parkway, April 25, 2019.

Countryman noted, however, that the driver could still be convicted of vehicular homicide if witnesses and cameras suggest he did not heed posted warnings to slow down as the highway makes a 6 percent descent into Denver.

Fires and explosions erupted as the white, flat-bed truck roared up the right shoulder at high speed and plowed into the traffic jam caused by an earlier accident farther up I-70. Countryman described the scene as one of "true carnage."

Josh McCutchen, a YouTube/Burger Planet vlogger, was streaming live video from his van when the semi sweeps past him at high speed on the shoulder.

"Oh my god," he shouts. "We almost ......died!"

Brian Dickey told Denver ABC affiliate KMGH that the back of his truck lifted up and shoved him forward, slamming his car into other vehicles.

"When I came to a stop I look in my rearview mirror and all I saw was a bunch of flames," he said. "And I jumped out of the vehicle as fast as I could. There was so much fire at the time that I couldn't even really approach any of the other vehicles to see if there was any other survivors or what."

One of the semis was carrying diesel fuel, which poured onto the highway as fiery explosions erupted, sending thick, black smoke across metro Denver. The flames, which lit piles of lumber from another truck, left hotspots smoldering through the night.

The raging fire sent temperatures on the surface of the highway soaring above 2,500 degrees, melting aluminum and turning pavement into rubble, said Josh Laipply, chief engineer of the Colorado Department of Transportation.

“I think we lose sight that vehicles are deadly weapons, and we need to be more careful when we are driving,” Laipply said, according to the Denver Post.

Emergency crews work at the scene of a deadly collision on Interstate 70 near the Colorado Mills Parkway in Lakewood, Colo. April 25, 2019.
Emergency crews work at the scene of a deadly collision on Interstate 70 near the Colorado Mills Parkway in Lakewood, Colo. April 25, 2019.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 4 killed by runaway truck on Denver interstate; driver faces homicide charges