GOLDEN, Colo. (AP) - The Latest on the Texas truck driver accused of causing a fatal interstate pileup in Colorado (all times local):
11:55 a.m.
A Colorado prosecutor says a 23-year-old truck driver is accused of “exhibiting extreme indifference to the value of human life” in a fiery interstate crash that killed four people and injured others.
Jefferson County District Attorney Pete Weir announced Friday a total of 40 charges, including 36 felonies, against Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos of Houston.
The charges against Aguilera-Mederos include four counts of vehicular homicide, six counts of first-degree assault and 24 counts of attempted first-degree assault.
The crash occurred April 25 on Interstate 70 just after it descends from the mountains west of Denver. The pileup involved 28 vehicles and multiple explosions.
Aguilera-Mederos, who is being held on $400,000 bond, told investigators the brakes on his semitrailer failed.
His lawyer calls the charges “prosecutorial overkill.”
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9:55 a.m.
The lawyer for 23-year-old truck driver accused of causing a fiery interstate pileup that killed four people in Colorado says prosecutors have filed excessive charges against his client.
Jefferson County District Attorney Pete Weir announced Friday a total of 40 charges, including four counts of vehicular homicide, against Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos of Houston.
The charges also include six counts of first-degree assault and 24 counts of attempted first-degree assault.
Denver attorney Robert Corry says the charges are “prosecutorial overkill.”
The crash occurred April 25 on Interstate 70 just after it descends from the mountains west of Denver. The pileup involved 28 vehicles and multiple explosions. Besides the four killed, six others were injured.
Aguilera-Mederos, who is being held on $400,000 bond, told investigators the brakes on his semitrailer failed.
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9:10 a.m.
The 23-year-old truck driver accused of causing a fiery interstate pileup that killed four people in Colorado has been formally charged with four counts of vehicular homicide.
Jefferson County District Attorney Pete Weir announced Friday a total of 40 charges against Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos of Houston.
The charges against Aguilera-Mederos also include six counts of first-degree assault and 24 counts of attempted first-degree assault.
The crash occurred April 25 on Interstate 70 just after it descends from the mountains west of Denver. The pileup involved 28 vehicles and multiple explosions. Besides the four killed, six others were injured.
Aguilera-Mederos, who is being held on $400,000 bond, told investigators the brakes on his semitrailer failed.
His lawyer declined immediate comment Friday but said previously that the crash was an accident.
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