Rogel Lazaro Aguilera Mederos was the truck driver responsible for the 2019 Lakewood crash in Colorado that claimed the lives of four people
According to court documents Rogel Lazaro Aguilera Mederos was driving at speeds over eighty miles per hour when he slammed into the back of vehicles stopped due to another accident. The chain reaction would take the lives of four people: Doyle Harrison, 61, William Bailey, 67, Stanley Politano, 69, and Miguel Lamas Arrellano, 24.
Following the crash Rogel Lazaro Aguilera Mederos would tell Colorado police that his brakes had failed earlier
Rogel Lazaro Aguilera Mederos would be arrested, convicted and sentenced initially to 110 years in prison however it would later be commuted to ten years in prison
At the time of the Lakewood crash the truck driver was twenty three years old and had not been driving for that long. When I heard of this fatal crash a couple of things would cross my mind.
- Did the brakes fail due to a malfunction that he missed during a pretrip inspection or did he burn his brakes out from overuse going down steep hills
- Did the driver not make use of his Jake Brakes (Engine Brakes) which make it easier to control your speed and saves your brakes
- Why did the driver not make use of the runaway truck ramp
Part of the problem following the crash was that the semi truck was destroyed so it could not be determined the status of his brakes at the time of the crash.
The company that Rogel Lazaro Aguilera Mederos was working for at the time of the Lakewood crash had been cited multiple times for safety violations and for hiring drivers who had poor English abilities when it came to reading road signs
This particular accident really emphasizes why proper training is essential. Maybe if Rogel Lazaro Aguilera Mederos had solid training than this accident may have never taken place
Rogel Lazaro Aguilera Mederos
| Name: AGUILERA-MEDEROS, ROGEL L Age: 30 Ethnicity: HISPANIC Gender: MALE Hair Color: BLACK Eye Color: BROWN Height: 5′ 09″ Weight: 145 | DOC Number:193007 Est. Parole Eligibility Date:12/30/2026 Next Parole Hearing Date: Sep 2026 This offender is scheduled on the Parole Board agenda for the month and year above. Please contact the facility case manager for the exact date. Est. Mandatory Release Date:06/05/2030 Est. Sentence Discharge Date: Current Facility Assignment: ARROWHEAD CORRECTIONAL CENTER |
Rogel Lazaro Aguilera Mederos Case
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is commuting the sentence of a truck driver who was sentenced to 110 years in prison for an interstate wreck that killed four people, he announced Thursday, calling the sentence “highly atypical and unjust.”
Rogel Aguilera-Mederos will now serve a 10-year sentence and will be eligible for parole on December 30, 2026, according to a clemency letter Polis wrote to him.
Aguilera-Mederos was convicted in October on four counts of vehicular homicide and 23 other charges related to the fiery crash, according to Colorado’s First Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
He was driving a semi tractor-trailer in April 2019, traveling at 85 mph, when the brakes failed, he told investigators at the time. He tried to pull over to the shoulder to avoid stopped traffic, but another semi had already stopped there, according to an arrest affidavit.
The crash led to a 28-car pileup that left four dead, the Lakewood Police Department said at the time. Killed were Miguel Angel Lamas Arellano, 24; William Bailey, 67; Doyle Harrison, 61; and Stanley Politano, 69.
“The length of your 110-year sentence is simply not commensurate with your actions, nor with penalties handed down to others for similar crimes,” Polis wrote in the clemency letter.
The lengthy sentence had drawn national scrutiny, with celebrities like Kim Kardashian West calling for a lesser penalty. More than 5 million people signed a petition asking the governor to reduce Aguilera-Mederos’ sentence.
In his letter, Polis wrote the “arbitrary and unjust” sentence was “the result of a law of Colorado passed by the legislature and signed by a prior Governor and is not the fault of the judge who handed down the mandatory sentence required by the law in this case.”
During Aguilera-Mederos’ sentencing hearing earlier this month, Colorado District Court Judge A. Bruce Jones said he was bound to the mandatory-minimum sentencing laws in the state, according to CNN affiliate KMGH.
“This case will hopefully spur an important conversation about sentencing laws, but any subsequent changes to the law would not retroactively impact your sentence, which is why I am granting you this limited commutation,” Polis wrote.
James Colgan, one of the attorneys for Aguilera-Mederos, told CNN he was surprised the governor made the decision before a hearing to reconsider the sentence that was scheduled for next month. Colgan said it was welcome news, and he fully expects Aguilera-Mederos will accept the clemency offer.
“Obviously, I think that that was the maximum sentence that Mr. Mederos should have received – 10 years. And Mr. Mederos is of course extraordinarily grateful for the governor’s decision,” Colgan said. “I think that is a far more just reflection of what happened than the 110 years that he received.”
Prior to the commutation, First Judicial District Attorney Alexis King asked the court to consider a sentence in the range of 20-30 years “based on the facts of this case and input from the victims and their families.”
In a statement Thursday, King said, “We are disappointed in the Governor’s decision to act prematurely.”
“We are meeting with the victims and their loved ones this evening to support them in navigating this unprecedented action and to ensure they are treated with fairness, dignity, and respect during this difficult time,” she added.
In a news release Thursday, Polis also disclosed he recently learned that a relative of Aguilera-Mederos’s attorney works in the governor’s office.
“This individual had absolutely no involvement in the commutation process and works in an unrelated capacity to this matter, and was not aware of the Governor’s decision in advance,” the release said.
