LAKEWOOD, Colo. — Video appears to show a semitrailer driving out of control on Interstate 70 in the mountains ahead of a deadly 28-vehicle crash on Thursday evening.
The video shows the truck swerving across multiple lanes of traffic along the interstate and driving past a runaway truck ramp.
The Lakewood Police Department confirmed at a Friday morning press conference that they were reviewing the video as evidence but would not 100 percent confirm it is the same truck responsible for causing the deadly crash.
However, it matches the description of the truck police provided and said it was about four miles from the scene of the crash.
The video was filmed by Pedro Olvera, who said he frequently travels on I-70 west of Denver. He said he tried to motion for the trucker to slow down.
“We made eye contact and I told him, ‘Hey, slow down,'” said Olvera.
Olvera said he started shaking when he witnessed the crash.
“That could have been us,” he said.
The driver of the truck suspected of causing the crash, Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos, of Texas, has been arrested on suspicion of vehicular homicide, police said.
Officials say the 23-year-old, who sustained minor injuries, was headed down a hill when he slammed into traffic slowed because of a previous crash ahead of him on I-70.
Police said there is no indication the crash was intentional and that drugs or alcohol were a factor but investigators were looking at whether his truck’s brakes were working.
At least four people were killed in the crash in which 24 cars and four semis were involved. It happened in the eastbound lanes of the interstate near Denver West Colorado Mills Parkway in Lakewood just before 5 p.m. on Thursday.
Video captured by a YouTuber appeared to show the semi speeding down the shoulder of the interstate moments before the crash happened.
Both directions of the interstate had reopened by about 8:15 p.m. Friday.