More than 4.5 million people have signed a petition after a truck driver was sentenced to 110 years in jail for a pileup crash that killed four people in 2019.
Rogel Aguilera-Mederos was driving a semitrailer loaded with lumber in 2019 when he crashed into a line of backed up vehicles causing a giant fireball to erupt, as per Fox 31 News.
Multiple fires and explosions occurred and four people died after the 18-wheeler, driven by Aguilera-Mederos, crashed into 12 cars and three other semi-trailer trucks on Interstate 70 in Lakewood, Colorado, on April 25.
A jury found Aguilera-Mederos guilty of 27 counts in October including 4 counts of vehicular homicide, 2 counts of assault and one count of reckless driving.
He was found not guilty of 15 counts of criminal attempts to commit assault in the first degree.
Aguilera-Mederos, who was driving at 85 mph at the time, said the brakes on the truck failed and caused him to lose control.
In response to the sentence of 110 years in jail for the 26-year-old Cuban immigrant, who said he moved to the U.S. to provide a better life for his family, a petition has been set up.
More than 4.5 million people have signed the petition on change.org urging the truck driver’s sentence to be lowered, commuted for time served or for clemency to be granted.
According to the website, if it reaches 4.5 million signatures, it will become the top signed petition ever on change.org, the popular petition website.
Aguilera-Mederos also has the support of fellow truckers who are threatening to stop moving goods to and from Colorado and campaigning on social media to raise awareness using hashtags like #NoTrucksColorado and #DontDriveColorado to spread awareness on social media.
His attorney said a clemency application was in the works and a march in support of Aguilera-Mederos was held at the state Capitol on Monday.
“We understand that the judge had to adhere to the minimum sentencing per law,” rally organizer Jessica Luna said.
“However, we do believe that was an unjust sentencing. We are talking about five lives gone, opposed to four now, with the 110-year sentence ran consecutively as opposed to concurrently,” she added.
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