DENVER — Rogel Aguilera Mederos is still waiting to be charged after investigators say he caused a fiery wreck that left four dead and many more injured on I-70 on Thursday. He’s being held under $400,000 bond.
“We believe there was some sort of malfunction,” said his attorney Robert Corry during a news conference outside Jefferson County jail on Saturday. “Something, and there is pretty good evidence of that.”
The arrest affidavit says Mederos told police his brakes weren’t working as he barreled down I-70 past Genesse. The Problem Solvers learning the company he works for has a history of brake issues.
Members of Mederos’ family confirm the trucker works for Castellano 03 Trucking out of Houston Texas. According to the United States Department of Transportation, it’s a company with five trucks and five drivers.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration says the company has had 19 inspections since the Fall of 2017 to as recently as March of this year, with 30 violations. Ten of those violations are for a form of brake issue.
The Problem Solvers reached out to the owner of Castellano 03 Trucking for comment on the wreck, and the violations, but the owner said she “could not comment.”
The arrest affidavit also says Mederos passed a runaway truck ramp, citing a video obtained by the Problem Solvers recorded by another trucker on the highway that day. The signs are in English.
Two of Castellano 03 Trucking’s violations concern drivers grasp of the English language, including: “Driver cannot read or speak the English language sufficiently to respond to official inquiries,” and “Driver must be able to understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language.”
We do not know if Mederos is the driver mentioned in the DOT report.
Mederos has yet to be formally charged as of Sunday night. There is a grassroots effort to pay for his $400,000 bond. More than $100,000 has been raised on Facebook.