This is outrageous! Don't forget to listen to my Podcast, "The Real Deal w/Larry Lawton on all major podcast platforms. New shows every Monday and Friday. Merry Christmas to everyone. Thank you to all the truckers out there for your tireless unappreciated service. I truly appreciate you and thank you. Stay safe.
Well said Larry 💯 The company should have never let a new driver drive bye himself in that location. Many trucker's say that you should not put a new driver in that area
trucks require very strict pre checks and if they find anyone that finds knows or neglected the saftey of a truck they are found 100% responsible / know they did it on purpose
Lawton, did you know the prosecuting attorney for this case celebrated taking this man's entire life away with the faulty brakes of the semi truck mounted on the wall like a trophy and posted either on facebook and/or twitter a picture of it to brag about it. The original post was taken down, but not before screenshots of it were captured. We have only seen the tip of the iceberg in regards to the level of cruelty this system encourages, or at the very least the cruelty of the prosecuting attorney who spearheaded the flaws of the system to take this man's life away, then celebrated it by flaunting a trophy on the internet as though it were an award for curing cancer.
As a former semi driver myself, what pisses me off about this case all the blame goes on the driver when it is the company that hired this guy are the TRUE criminals! THEY knew he didn't speak the language, they KNEW he didn't have the experience, and THEY knowingly sent him down the most dangerous stretch of road for a semi driver. Legit trucking companies would NEVER send a rookie untrained driver on a mountain pass. The company owner that knowingly sent this guy down a mountain with zero training is the man/woman who should be in prison.
Its ridiculous to think that one mistake.. one shockingly bad day and you could spend life in prison. Potentially through no fault of your own. He does deserve prison time.... but not the rest of his life. Even 20 years would be extreme. Its like these judges and juries dont seem to comprehend how long these sentences truly are. Even 5 years in jail forever changes the course of your life. We havent modernized our sentences and it shows.
I agree that the company should hold some culpability. They are now out of business plus due to his cdl restrictions he was not allowed out of TX due to his language limitations. The company had only given his clearance to go out of state two week prior when he was not allowed to and had less than two years drive time. It was a small trucking company with significant citations on their record. My understanding is he did mislead the company by saying he had more experience, regardless of his restricted cdl and his work only visa, and they just said "OK" and sent him without even checking when he couldn't read english. So he misrepresented himself and the company did nothing to verify anything even though he had little experience. The company was small and only had 5 rigs. Again, they were shady AF and are out of business.
As a Colorado resident who was only minutes behind this accident, I am torn. Sentencing a man to 110 years is too much for a negligent mistake. However, this section of I70 is RIDDLED with careless and untrained truckers causing accidents. As a CDL class A holder myself, I understand that inspections and proper driving practices are as critical as if one is piloting an airplane. You are behind the wheel of a LETHAL weapon, if not treated with the greatest respect. The Rocky Mountains steep, long grades are no place for mistakes behind the wheel, and everyone who possess a CDL is made to understand this. Having said all of that, the legal requirements surrounding this conviction are ridiculous. I believe he should serve time, yes. But a life sentence is a miscarriage of justice. LOVE your channel Larry. You inspire thoughtful consideration regarding our criminal justice system, and we need it!
If his only fault was not following inspection regulations, then that's really extreme. There was that nightclub fire in RI which killed like 100 people and the owners got a couple years for poor safety practices.
Honestly don’t think he should be charged. The company he worked for had many safety violations regarding their vehicles so the company he worked for knew these trucks weren’t fit to be driven. I honestly think whoever was in charge of maintaining the vehicle at his company should be the one serving 110 years.
Training definitely needs to be updated as a driver myself I see how bad it's getting going down hills drivers are letting the truck hall ass the hit the break
To think, just 25 years ago. Without all this media and internet coverage, this man probably never would have seen the light of day again. He still may get an extreme sentence, but I hope this movement and your video helps him and those laws are revised to be more justifiable. Love what you do Larry!
@@Lebalowski Doesn't mean he'll get it champ. Parole is funny like that. Even if he does get out he'll be under heavy supervision for x amount of time. 6-10 years.
@@yoursafeplace8476 Way better than a 100 year barbaric sentence like that. He'll do his time for that mistake and get out to start living again. Most people in prison aren't gonna fuck with him for something like this, he probably feels guilty as shit anyway. Honestly it's tough, but people died so someone has to bite the bullet. I hope the guy gets out early.
When you see the button up shirt you know it's serious, and god how serious this is. I hope this all turns out as well as possible considering what's already happened.
Yo Larry!! Who the fuck is really tying this judge's hands? Hes a MOTHERFUCKING JUDGE For Christ's sakes!! He's not a goddamn Magistrate or Justice of the peace!! He is high enough in status where he can make his own fucking sentences based SOLELY on the FACTS! CO. is one of the most liberal states in the damn country!! You can buy a pound of weed..maybe if this driver was high on CO. weed it would be ok? The driver is obviously Hispanic...but he was able to.accquire a fucking CDL...you must be in this country legally!! The victims,.this is the sad part bc they are dead and not coming back..and yes it hurts my heart!! Only an animal wouldnt be hurt over this. Is someone in Govt running on a anti-fracking agenda? Kinda doubt it. BUT who the fuck in Govt took it upon themselves to make vehicular homicide guidelines when there was NO fucking homicide!! Yes, you had many people killed, but none of it was caused knowingly, intentionally, or illegally thru drugs, alcohol, cocaine, uppers or anything of the sort. Did he drive for a company? If so, those are the asshats they need to go after. THEY are the ones who are supposed to maintain important shit...uh like AIR BRAKES So the trucks can stop!! Not a working man who spent most of his life on the fucking road!! Leaving his family alone more than normal to provide for them...bc trucking companies are well known for grinding drivers dicks in the dirt with impossible to keep schedules!! In which the drivers are pulling way more than 10 hrs/day before taking 8 hours rest...which means many drivers drive tired so they dont get the axe from a peckerhead boss!! Heres my last word on this shit is, although I feel so very hurt for the families of the victims, but if he was not found at fault..they need to spring his ass from the joint post haste!!!
Honestly Larry, keep speaking out man. The world needs more guys like you. This case is such a miscarriage of justice. My heart is heavy for, not only the families of the people who died in this case. But this poor trucker who knew made a mistake. Now his life is gone as well. Another victim.
He rejected a bench trial and refused a peal deal because he was only willing to accept a traffic violation all of which his lawyers advised against try learning all the facts before calling something a mistrial of justice
@@saulhorowitz6216 guess I should have called you first eh Saul? Stfu. Fine. Maybe justice was served according to the absolute ancient laws set in the USA, but if for one second, someone sat there and said "hmmm, what actually makes sense in THIS case" We would have a different outcome
@@darrenfunk8440 so what do you think makes sense for someone who took four lives because they passed not 1 but 2 runaway truck exits and drove their truck BACK into traffic after being on the shoulder knowing they had no breaks and refused a 12 year plea deal ?
110 years is beyond ridiculous. He could have literally walked into a walmart, pulled out a shotgun and blew away a child in front of their mother and got less time. Think about that.. Our entire Prison and Justice system is so messed up in situations like this.
Did anyone actually watch the case or are they talking out their ass???? He stated in court he had a choice to swerve the car on a wall but chose to hit the cars because it would give him a better survival rate, he then preceded to fucking run away from the scene while people were dying.
@@xenogaming9600 Read the dame trial transcript. He could have avoided killing the 4 people which makes it beyond general negligence that's why he got the long sentence. Not only that he ran away from the entire accident which made things worse.
@@scotttild There is an entire field of machine learning dedicated to analogues of the trolley problem. Where hundreds of people are presented permutations of zero sum games where someone has to die to see what the consensus is because it is an incredibly nuanced issue. He chose his own life over that of others in the heat of the moment, most people would do the same. Can you honestly say that if your life was suddenly on the line that you wouldn't do whatever you could to save it?
As a trucker myself, I nearly threw up last night when I accidentally scraped another truck's faring trying to back into a spot. I've been driving for 2 years and this is the first time I've ever touched another truck. Luckily for me, It was a very small scratch on his truck and zero damage to my trailer. The guy was very supportive and we exchanged info and I went to sleep. TLDR, I can't imagine how bad this guy feels and the sentence was HORRIFIC. It's not like he aimed a van at a bunch of protesters or blew up a marathon. It was a mechanical failure. Not a choice.
I am a UK viewer of yours and I literally cannot believe they have sentenced this young dude to 110 years. Its barbaric. I really hope some one in prison takes him under his wing. I truly worry that he will unalive himself.
4 people dying and more injured because of your mistake isint something that you should just get a slap on the wrist for. I'm from Scotland it doesn't matter what part of the world your from loss of human life is loss of human life end of. Someone has to be held accountable.
@@xxmysterygirl101xx A prison abolitionist? Now isn't that nice? How about we release all the murderers and rapists and put them on your street as your new neighbors? Would you agree to this?
It's ridiculuous. Yes he failed to do checks on his truck, but putting him into jail doesn't make anything better. Who's to say that even if he would have done checks on his truck he would have noticed that fault? USA is totally fucked.
@@LarryLawtonJewelThief can you make a video about race. Haven't seen all your videos but in case you have. What I mean is, does race really have a difference in the system. You have said you studied law and people must have come to you for help. I know race can have an impact but just wondering if it's a big difference or not. Thanks and have a good one. Love your videos.
Its more about money than race in the court sytems. All about how good of a lawyer you can get. Look at how crime is soaring though in cities that are being soft on crime though.
And Ethan Couch suffering from "affluenza" drives drunk and kills 4 people and he gets released after 720 days. And a clear accident gets this poor guy 110 yrs. Complete insanity. I hope this video goes more than viral. Great job Larry!!
The passion and humanity you express proves your one of the few people that went to prison and you where truly reformed. Not because prison/jail works to reform prisoners as a system... But because you persevered in spite of the broken system. I always say, "in your darkest hour your true colors shine through." You where strong enough to go through something horrible like the system and came out a better person. Which is so rare. I'm glad your one of the people on the streets. The world needs more people like you man. Of course people need repercussions for breaking the law. But those repercussions need to leave room to truly allow people to grow as a person. The system in place right now is so hell bent on punishment that it breaks people down as a human being. It doesnt build them up to become a better person. How you ended up as a good person in the end is nothing short of a testimate as to how strong of a person you are.
>trucker accidentally kills people with failed brakes - 110 years in prison >multi billionaires are working people to death for record breaking profits while paying barely liveable wages - praised
@@Muneeb. I think in my country he wouldn't have got anything or he would it probably would be like small fine or something. But ofcourse american system is broken and only for business.
As a trucker myself, I can tell you things go wrong even with perfectly inspecting the equipment, this driver did nothing intentional and given his inexperience, he probably wasn't taught how to recover from brakes fading down a mountain....
My thoughts exactly. I respect truckers so much. I have a 38-ft RV and I see a lot of crazy shit on the roads. Truckers get my utmost respect. Stay safe my friend.
Exactly I'm not a truck driver but I've worked at landscaping or still do and I can tell you things can still go wrong and it's not even the drivers fault
In any field, you will encounter unexpected problems, even with perfect preparation. Sometimes you don't know what to do and require more training or help from someone more experienced. It's unfortunate that in this case it was high stakes and it cost the lives of other people, but 110 years for this man won't change anything or make the highways safer. It would be 1 thing if he purposely drove the truck into a preschool or pack of cars, but he didn't. He experienced a problem he wasn't prepared for, and that's what sucks. If the judge/jury/prosecutor intended to "scare" other truck drivers into driving more safely (i.e. make an example out of this kid), they failed. And that's a terrible way to address safety concerns, anyway.
Maybe they shouldn't have allowed him on that route, which apparently was a hard route to drive in best conditions and there was evidence that he had break problems
I'm a former trucker myself. It seems like there was a severe lack of training for this guy. He was from Texas not Colorado, he was just driving through Colorado for this load. This may have been the first time he drove in mountains. They just don't have mountains like this in Texas. When I started driving I had to spend 5 weeks with a trainer. This included a requirement that I drive several mountain grades under the supervision of that trainer before I ever got to drive solo. I don't think this guy had any training after CDL school.
An from what I read he lied about his experience to even get the job. His lack of skill an training is what's wrong with companies just giving out cdls. I was wondering if he even use his Jake brake or exhaust break, or if he just using his regular brakes which would cause a brake failure.
Former Trucker here too... Yep those Mountain passes are..... something else that's for sure. That being said, my first time going through them I made sure to pull over at the top before the decline at the clearly marked "Trucker pull off and check" station before my decent to avoid something exactly like this. 15 minutes spent going over your truck to make sure every little thing is in order and functioning correctly can literally save lives. All that said... 110 years for an accident is beyond ridiculous, 2-5yrs would have been justice... 110 is ending another life for no reason, its not justice.
@@Eagleclaw43567 He had paid a FL company to pass his cdl as he was unable to. That's how he got his cdl, someone took the test for him and he could not read english. He lied about his experience to the trucking company as well. He never claimed to use his jake brake at all and clearly told his boss and another driver he could not keep the rig in gear once the descent started and was using his air brakes the whole way down. He then lied to the PD after trying to flee the scene saying he had done this exact mountain run before, which was also untrue. Both the company that he paid for his cdl and the company he worked for are out of business.
@@Lizzard2060 that makes a sense. I heard about those places in Florida where you can buy a CDL. Yeah he should not have been behind that wheel at all, he deserves to go to prison. But for 110yrs no, maybe like 10-15yrs. But than again he caused it with his many of mistakes he decided to make.
@@Eagleclaw43567 OK, but his plea offer was 10 to 15 and his defense got it down to 9yrs and he stood by his grandiose statement and said "I deserve a speeding ticket" and that was all he believed he deserved. So he could have had 9 yrs but he chose to go to trial after being explained the risks because he knew better. Even though he had so many lies like his cdl, his lack of experience, his lying to the cops, fleeing the scene, etc. that would come out. I get 110 looks crazy but the sentence people are asking for he already turned down because he felt he didn't deserve any jail time and deserved only a speeding ticket.
Larry, having served several years in both Federal & State prison myself, I couldn’t agree with you more. That being said, I belonged in prison for what I did. Honestly, it may have been the best thing that ever happened to me. I say that because I got a second chance and I’ve used that chance to turn my life around. My criminal days were more than 30 years ago and I’ve never looked back. I haven’t had so much as a traffic ticket since. To take people with non violent criminal convictions and throw their lives away under the guise getting justice is absurd. There was no justice served here. We definitely need criminal justice reform but in both directions. We need to not criminalize every little thing that people do like smoking marijuana for instance. but on the flip side we need to enhance penalties for repeat violent offenders. Mandatory minimums were supposed to be for this purpose but are rarely enforced. It’s these repeat violent felons that have helped lay waste to our cities. I currently reside in Baltimore and right now the City States Attorney is in a pissing contest with the Governor over her lack of hard core prosecutions of violent offenders. In my opinion the Governor is 100% correct. Having been in prison I can tell you that there are people who absolutely belong there and some of them should never be allowed to walk amongst us ever again because of the heinousness of their crimes. However, they are the minority. We are supposed to be a society of reform and tolerance. Giving this man 110 years for basically failing to properly inspect his truck is a case of cruel and unusual punishment if there ever was one. I sympathize with the families with those families that lost someone as a result but this was nothing more than a tragic accident.
Having driven that stretch of road more times than I can count i can tell you it was more than an accident. There's more warning signs than I can count plus many, many runway truck ramps for exactly that purpose. 110 years us excessive but he was very criminally negligent and absolutely deserves time.
Nathan, I agree. Giving this man 110 years is so asinine stupid I can't believe it... but I agree he was negligent, careless, complacent and reckless. Because of his choice and actions 4 people are dead, many more injured, and how many millions$$$ will be lost in vehicles, goods, insurance claims, lawsuits, repairs, medical, emergency services..... But 110 years is a completely dumb, cruel and unintended consequence of Colorado's system. Needs fixed. He needs to serve a many year stretch, but 110...no way.
it is real crazy how a ped0phile gets sentenced less than this trucker who had an accident. pardon my English but this is just outrageous. and also thank you Larry for talking about this case. God Bless.
@16bit Classics And I feel bad for the people that have been died during that accident, but did he really mean to hit these people? they shouldve blamed the company instead.
Thankyou for bringing light to this, I had no idea. How shocking is it that he is facing 110 years and no mention of the trucking company and their lack of compliance.
Let me just say that as someone who is licensed to drive heavy trucks: this could have happened to me or any other trucker. When you're a newbie, you're bound to make mistakes and when you're put into a dangerous situation without proper training, mistakes cause disaster. Even when I was driving I did a bunch of dumb stuff like getting stuck or taking a road you shouldn't take. Imagine now you're in his position and you're told to drive faulty equipment on dangerous roads. It's no surprise he can't handle the situation well. The cold reality is that these companies hold zero criminal responsibility for any of this, all of it goes on the driver. And they take advantage of inexperienced drivers who will either not properly do the inspections due to lack of experience or who are bound by their job insecurity and feel unable to refuse a dangerous job. Meanwhile this disgusting "tough on crime" legal system will put a non-dangerous young adult in prison for the rest of his life because "think of the victims". There's no way I'm delivering anything to the US anymore after this crap happened (I'm in Canada).
Put the employer in jail, not this poor bastard who was clearly put in a situation over his head because of the massive trucker shortage. Nobody will want to be a trucker now, and we need them MORE THAN EVER.
@@astalnor9990 so what is the right punishment...he is responsible for the deaths of 4 people..but everyone is saying how unjust 110 years is for the driver...no one has even mentioned the 4 families who lost loved ones
@@jamesdukes1869 seems weird I work as a dispatch for longhaul truckers and none of my guys said they mentioned any of the families only the "poor" driver so try again
You are so right Larry. I admire you turning your life around and trying to help people. You have a heart and I so respect that. Thank you for caring about people and trying to help people Larry. No matter what others may say I appreciate the work you do trying to help people. Its great to see how you have flipped things in your life.
I just heard about this and at first I was like damn he must’ve been drunk. Nope. Then I was like um what the hell? Poor dude. Crazy to know you can drive sober legally and just have an accident and end up in hell for the rest of your life. Awful
Thank you for touching on this topic Larry. I know I sent you an email on this and hopefully many others did. There's a lot of factors that came into this crash and many being controversial among the trucking industry. But in the end its the sentencing that is absurd and I'm glad you covered it and was able to show the people just how screwed up our justice system can be. Being a truck driver we are always held to the higher standards as professionals. But everyone is new at some point and some are not as experienced in the industry as others. Meaning you have new guys come in and have a general idea of how things work, and then you have some that are 100% clueless and rely on the training. This guy unfortunately was very new and had a lot to learn. That inexperience showed here and now his life is ruined over an accident. I really hope the best for this man and If I could, I would love to take him into my company and give him all the training and experience he would need to be a better driver.
WTF, this should be like a 1 year sentence. Enough to send a message to truck drivers that there are serious consequences, but not so much that you basically end someone's life and discourage people from an industry that already has labor shortages. Put that guy back in a truck after a year in prison and I bet he is the safest driver on the road.
Nope he deserves to spend more than a year in jail. He failed to do his pre-trip inspection, during his trip he noticed his brakes were having problems but instead of stopping he decided to continue, he missed two runaway ramps because he didn’t want to “damage the truck”. He had plenty of opportunities to avoid what happened but he made the wrong decision each and every time. He deserves to spend some time in prison for his negligence which resulted in the death of four innocent people
@@20P4U do you think if you personally spent 1 year in jail or 5 years in jail or 20 years for some mistakes and accidents you've done in your life it would change your behavior? How much time in prison becomes detrimental to society because when he gets out he will be totally dependent on the system and unable to work?
Does the driver deserve to go to prison? Yes But 110 years is completely ridiculous for a crash. I have never thought there would have been this big of a split in the trucking community. Yeah the driver majorly screwed up by not ditching the truck at some point going down the mountain. He passed at least 3 runaway truck ramps after it was clear that he was out of control. And full disclosure, yes I am a truck driver who has gone down that way 2 or 3 times fully loaded.
he could've gotten 100 years per person he killed everyone is mad for no reason in my eyes. he was given the minimum on all of the charges. the 110 years is 100% the right sentence.
Commercial fisherman here i agree . I've got a Ships Master Class 4 which requires sea time and about a year of school , did I make mistakes when I started out running a boat myself ? Hell yes I did , no ones perfect throw the book at him for sure but 110 years is throwing the whole library at him .
@@bestlaptop_psn seeing as he got the minimum for each charge i dont think im wrong he had 3 chances to go on a runaway ramp and chose not to he instead chose to drive into traffic your actions have consequences and these are his he was not driving the truck properly on that moutain and people died and got injured because of it. he deserves the 110 years anyone would be in the same spot if we made the same choices
This whole case is so upsetting, As someone who drives a truck myself. Sometimes things do fail after they’re inspected. Yes 4 people lost their lives. Does he deserve to lose his license, yes, does he deserve a year or 2 in a low security prison, maybe he does. He certainly doesn’t deserve to have his life taken away over one mistake that’s going to haunt him for the rest of his life. Love the content Larry. Keep up the good work!
Four other people got their lives taken away because of his one mistake. I agree completely that 110 years is ridiculous and unjust, but too many people here are downplaying the responsibility this man held in ending the lives and futures of these people just going about their day.
Aa someone who drives truck yourself how many runaway exits would pass before you say hey maybe I should get on one those things one maybe two? Would you pull onto the shoulder and then back into traffic if you knew your breaks were down? Would you go against the advice of lawyer and reject a possible 15 year deal even though you recklessly killed four people because you were only willing to accept a traffic violation? I'm just curious
I don't understand how the system can just destroy someone's life because of a mistake. Why should this man be punished by a moral standpoint? It's not like you're stopping him from commiting more crimes, he didn't intend to commit the crime in the first place! It's so hard to even comprehend something like this.
I think what did him in was the fact he was speeding, passed 2 truck hills, and didnt let the breaks cool off. It is tough cause I think the trucking company should be taking the responsibility for sending the kid out there where he wasnt ready to drive mostly. I think he should serve concurrently considering the families accepted his apology.
Yeah, I totally get that about the work place culture. A lot of companies say they care about safety but as soon as it inconveniences them, they’re willing to look the other way. Not all companies of course. It sounds like the trucker driver messed up but 110 years it insane.
UPDATE: a week after this the CO governor reduced the sentence to 10 years. I whole heartedly agree with you on this topic. Things need to change and hopefully this was a wakeup call for reform.
I would like to see his log book driver can only drive so many HR so most truck driver speed to get there miles up and if a driver is speeding and get in a life changing accident they should get life how many times has a truck blew past you cuz they are running out of hrs to drive so they get there miles up most truckers get pared by the mile not the HR tho they must rest for so long and can be on the road for so long the log book will tell the truth
@@deeznutz._.4oil Yet another argument against the industry, which is why I believe the company should be held liable for negligence. But even if the company is held accountable, the law itself is unjust. There was no intent, there was no premeditation, it was simply an accident. Two or three years is more reasonable, but no one should have their entire life taken away from them for a simple mistake.
Part of the fault was that there were 2 or 3 runaway ramps that this driver passed after discovering that his breaks were not working. There is no question he was negligent, however I also agree that a life sentence is extreme. The question is; where do you draw the line? How long is enough to send a message and yet be fair? A real can of worms.
Ok, but how do you deal with faulty brakes on a 16 ton< truck down a road at roughly 60mph. If he goes up the ramp, his momentum is just gonna carry him back down the other side, because I am pretty certain that those ramps are not very big. He’s on the freeway so it’s not like He is able to just slam the shifter into first gear to slow down, all that would do is cause a pile up.
The US got the best legal system in human history from England. But they changed the most important part which is the reason the US's treatment of it's own citizens is one of the most barbaric & over the top "Justice" systems in the world. The prosecution service (D.A) and judges should be appointed by their peers and not voted into office every few years by the public because over time this leads to judges & district attorneys promising the public, "Vote me in and I'll be twice as tough on crime as the other guy." A judge should pass sentence without bias or fear of losing his job for being too lenient...otherwise it leads to people being sentenced to hundreds of years in prison, their lives thrown away without mercy by over zealous prosecutors & judges just wanting to look extra tough on crime in the hope being voted in again and keeping their job for a few more years. The US & it's legal system has become barbaric, very cruel and unforgiving towards it's own people.
Was just watching this, in my opinion it's kind of demotivating knowing an accident caused by faulty machinery can result in a long sentence; Sure 4 people died but I'm pretty sure with truckers there are companies who maintain the trucks and if the brakes didn't work, then wouldn't the company be responsible unless the driver had played around with the brakes before hand? edit - Well thanks for the information, I don't know anything about trucking but I guess I was wrong in my statement
I think technically you are responsible for checking your rig, im not a trucker but my uncle does it for his own company. I know to get the cdl you have to go through a multi point checklist and if you miss something on it then you fail the test and have to come back and do it again. This could just be Indiana though, I can't speak for other states
@@bryangrivno Also knowing how to properly drive down a long hill or mountain, Doing so wrong and this will happen. Not to mention passing at least one truck runaway ramp.
Any brakes would malfunction on a long steep descend if you use them incorrectly. Especially on a loaded truck. Plus the guy missed the runaway ramp. Sentence is absurd, but it's not like the guy is innocent
@@LarryLawtonJewelThief 100% agree. In the last six months I can’t even tell you how many hours of your content I have watched. The one thing I’ve taken away from your channel is to think through every action that I make because even the slightest accident could cost you or somebody else a life.
Speaking as a Brit, this is insane. We would give him, at most, 3 years, if he was held to be careless. If he was held to be dangerous (far below the standard of a competent driver as opposed to merely careless) he'd get a maximum of 7 years in practice. Technically its 5 and 14 respectively but in practice its 3 or 7. In really bad cases it might be charged as manslaughter but realistically it would be seen as Death by Careless or Inconsiderate Driving or, at a real stretch, Death by Dangerous Driving. Edit - Also we have mandatory minimums for very few cases, the judge can always disregard that minimum for exceptional cases, with the sole exception of murder. For murder the only sentence allowed is life, but there is no lower limit on the minimum tariff, although guidelines are used to determine the fair sentence.
I read that he had a restricted CDL tor the state of Texas only, due to his poor command command of the English language. He needing more practical training experience.
Youre the man Mr. Lawton. Speaking your opinion with REAL common sense, reason,,and empathy. I appreciate your understanding that prisons and law and order are neccessary, while understanding how fucked up and ineffective our system is.
Trucking business in general is scary at times right now And every country has their extreme law cases that make others go wtf, not saying its right, it just is
In 2019 a guy ran a stop sign in a semi and hit a youth hockey team. Devastating. 16 kids killed, 13 injured. He got 8 years here. Parents were in vehicles behind and saw it happen. Rest in peace Humboldt. People talked about deporting him because he was a landed immigrant but many families with passed kids fought for him to stay. It was beautiful. I almost died when I saw this sentence. What is gained? This young man needs help. It's just so sad & wrong.
I just heard about this case a couple days ago... the fact that anyone can get a sentence like that because of an *accident* is just insane. It's not like he got into a fight with someone and accidentally killed them. This guy's brakes failed on a truck.. It's completely 100% not fair what Colorado did to him.
This was NOT just an accident, he made the choice to pass up runaway truck ramps as well as not using other safety devices that were installed and operable on his truck. Im willing to bet that if one of your family members was killed you would think differently and educate yourself to the FACTS of this grossly negligent murder of 4 people and seriously wounding 10+ more people. 100% not fair to the victims !!!!!!!!!! ok, then give him half, 50 YEARS!!!!!!
@@countryflyer4536 Yeah, I've heard the story of what happened.. thanks for coming off as condescending though. If you really think that he purposefully avoided runaway truck ramps in order to barrel into traffic then you're the one who needs to be educated. The *kid* panicked, hence why it's called an ACCIDENT. I'm willing to bet if you were in his shoes, you wouldn't want 110 years for not making decisions quickly enough. There's two sides to the coin, so don't try to act like you're Mr. Know-it-all. You've already made clear that you have no understanding of Justitia but nice try commenting and trying act smart.
@@SouloDoloMusic having lived here in Colorado my whole life and being a 6th gereration to do so, i would suggest to you the same as my comment that you have responded to. This was no accident, it was a choice to drive a deadly weapon that he didnt know how to drive. Kids are capable of murder, even if he didnt set out that day to do so. His actions and his only resulted in death. You should probably head back to California where this would be ok. If every truck driver that had brake failure decided to NOT use the runaway truck ramps there would be hundreds of desths across this country. What about him trying to flee the scene whats your twisted thoughts on that...im sure you think that the KID thing should justify that as well...wake up and look in the mirror....
@@countryflyer4536 he’s a a rookie that doesn’t even speak english and the company should be arrested for sending a rookie on. a mountain run with little training and they should have also known to check the breaks before they sent him on the job
@@countryflyer4536 you're just another conspiracy theorist at this point and the trucking company knowingly put a rookie driver on the hardest truck driving roads in america if anything its the company's fault for negligence and having lived in colorado means nothing in this case whatsoever
It most certainly was his fault! His negligence in this event was horrendous! He needs to serve some time for taking 4 lives. I agree that 110 years is excessive and his attorney is already filing for an appeal to review the sentence. I'm sure it will get heard before an appellate court and very likely will get reduced to something more reasonable...say 20 years.
For someone with his CDL and is ASE certified in multiple aspects of wrenching and have worked on tractors and trailers for years now brake shoes and drums can fail in a blink of an eye even if a proper pretrip was done. Springs for brake shoes wear out, drums crack and can not be seen without having to remove tires, brake fade and glazing happens which again cant be seen without removing tires and drums. If you wanted to properly inspect a truck which i do daily normally takes about 3-6 hours and alot of tools including air tools and knowledge. Brakes failing happen so often they have run off ramps for a reason thats why i personally love disk brakes that are pretty much the norm finally for all new tractors and trailers being manufactured for now on.
I agree with you 110 years is just straight ridiculous. I think this is an example of a very flawed system. First off from what I heard about that company they had alot of dot violations and apparently this guy's truck was having problems. Second of all it is federal law for truck drivers to do a pre trip inspection everyday and the driver admitted he didn't do it. Also the driver did have multiple runaway truck ramps and didn't use them. He does deserve prison time but not 110 years. It is way ridiculous. Plus being a truck driver myself I 70 west of Denver is the most treacherous stretch of interstate in the country and you do not send a rookie driver that way. I've ran that stretch of road many times and it's not for the inexperienced driver so his company should've never had him up there.
I’ve been in the seat for 8 years and 600k safe miles, my teammate has been in for 10 with over 1mil. No tickets no accidents. We both think this sentence is absurd. 5-10 years. Yes we do a pre trip and post, we drive team, and we’ve still had stuff fail mid trip without warning. Maybe not a pushrod for the brakes failing or a wheel falling off, but we’ve had issues before. There’s only so much you can do. Charge his company for being predatory and making him run bad equipment. Being a new driver, I guarantee he was afraid to say no due to the risk of losing his employment. This should never be the case. Safety before profit. We need an industry overhaul as well as a judicial overhaul.
Larry! What blows me away is that they're sentencing this dude for 110 years in prison but no one at the higher offices in Boeing got charged for 300+ counts of involuntary manslaughter!? WTF!!!
Truckers get no break when it comes to accidents. They look at you as a professional and you shouldn't make mistakes. What I'm not understanding is why he passed the run away truck ramp .
Hey Larry, I have a couple truckers in my family, and I asked them about this. They said they know there are runaway ramps all along I70 that he could have used. And when a truck doesn't have brakes, there really isn't much the driver can do. You can force a downshift and destroy the transmission, but that takes time. You can stomp the brakes but they will burn out if you are in a runaway truck. The only other real option is to use a runaway ramp. But at the same time it's hard to keep a cool head when you can't control your vehicle. They also went on to say that it's not his fault. He checks the truck yes, it's a pre ride inspection. But the company that worked on them is at fault. It would be the exact same as if I messed up someone's brakes and they hit a pedestrian because they couldn't stop. It's my fault for negligence, and the driver will get punished but not so much as I. Simply put, this entire case is bullshit, and it really seems like they didn't actually give a shit about justice. Obviously the trucker could have made better decisions. But the brakes weren't his fault, at all.
The problem is that he couldn't read the signs on the road due to a language barrier. When I realized that, I understand why I was such a harsh sentence. He knew he wasn't qualified, and he chose to drive irresponsibly. In my opinion that is the same as driving under the influence.
Judge needed to put his career on the line over this. If the judge said 5 years, who the hell would want to fight that. Anyhow, Gov, now in your court.
This absolutely shouldn't be a life sentence. I love your points and views on these cases. People need to have a spine and see between right and wrong. I really hope something changes with this sentencing otherwise there is no justice.
Larry, from my experience as a truck driver for many years. When I obtained my cdl we were trained or more like informed that the driver is responsible for making sure that the brakes on a truck and the condition their in are your responsibility before you take off on a trip. Which sounds good but c'mon , most of these young guys just getting into trucking are not mechanics and really have only minimal understanding of a big trucks braking system. This rule is just to protect the trucking industry on the whole. As a new driver your really just thrown out on the road with basically no experience and your just doing the best you can to keep up with the fast pace and keeping your job. The blame should be directly on the trucking company he works for. Because in all practicality the driver of a big rig is not a trained mechanic, end of story. Thankyou for supporting the trucker sounds like he's gonna need it...
As a former cdl driver I find this disgusting, I could see him getting 5-10 years for what happened. I have also had breaks fail on a semi, they were brand new and in perfect condition, the shoes were made of faulty material and crumbled. I have also had airlines rupture, none of these things would be seen on investigation if the truck and trailer caught fire and burned down. To all those that say "Well if the truck was unsafe to drive then leave it parked" then how are you going to feed your family, part of the responsibility lies with the company, this is not a one person at fault situation.
@@jeah723 some companies run slip seat trucks where you share the truck and some places do have it where you take whatever truck is in the yard I have worked for all 3 kinds. If it was a non sleeper truck it it much more likely to be a multi driver unit. Again I am.saying this as part of the blame belongs on the company, but the driver is at fault as well.
But it wasn't just his brakes. The evidence shows that the entire time he drove on the descent he had troubles even keeping the truck in gear. Evidence was also presented that he paid a FL company person to take his cdl for him so would you still stand up for him the same when someone pays for their cdl as they couldn't pass it themselves and then took this mountain route for the first time? He had called his boss and another driver due to the truck not being in gear and his brakes having issues only 1/3 of the way down the mountain. He drove way too fast for a descent from 10,000 to 5,500 feet. He skipped runaway truck ramps. He refused to used pull over spots marked with signs and blinking lights for truckers to cool their brakes. He side slammed other cars and was said to be driving erratically down the mountain. He tried to flee the scene. He lied to the cops. The list goes on. . . . . I believe you and I know some companies are shady and have you sign for a rig not in working order and basically force you to make due with it. They have, in the past, made people alter logs and stay at the wheel longer than legally allowed, try to skip or bribe some weigh stations and more. I even freaked the one time my air brakes went out and not all the way but I was not getting my full pressure and spent God knows how long checking every inch of hose. This was just not that. This was a deceitful and remorseless man who felt he should get nothing more than a traffic ticket and was offered a plea deal of 10 to 15 which his defense got down to 9 yrs and he stood by stating "he should only receive a speeding ticket" and went to trial and he lost big time when he knew the risks of going to trial and he knew all his lies would be called out. His has been arrogant and shown no remorse for the victims who were burned alive in their vehicles or the injuries suffered and the only tears you see are for himself. He is crying because he finally got caught in his lies. If people wanted the short sentence then he should have taken the plea deal and not wasted everyone time on a trial that cost the state a ton of money. He was aware of the potential time he could get going to trial and he felt he should only get a traffic violation instead of 9 years and rolled the dice and now he cries, not when he killed four people by burning them to death.
@@jamesdukes1869 I linked in another question like yours. I gave 5 sources and there is video of him coming down the incline "erratically" while passing a runaway ramp.
Hey Larry, i youtuber named Jake Tran recently made a "tutorial" video on how to rob a jewlery store and he goes into all of the steps, everything from scoping out to getting a crew etc... (and he mentions you in the video) can you please make a review on the video and tell us of its accurate ?
I’m really happy that I watched his old videos. Where he was out in his garage in a sweatshirt. And no big UA-cam plaques or anything. And to see him come this far is amazing really proud :$
I've been driving a truck for 9 years. I'm going to tell you stuff breaks parts fail. No matter how much you do the up keep on the truck. Sad I feel real bad for that driver
Scary as fuck, as we are all just one mistake from being in this guy's shoes. He doesn't deserve 110 years by any means, this is so fucked up. Take care Larry
Michael if he is a new truck driver the training sucks. If the company trained him they are the ones that's says his ready for a truck or not. I've had brakes get hot and smoke down hill. It's not fun. But for speeding could have missed a gear. And some newer truck drivers don't even know what truck run way ramps or for.
Heads up to anyone that hasn't kept up with it, the truck driver's sentence was reduced to 10 years on Dec. 30th thanks to Gov. Polis granting the driver commutation
Great channel:) Not sure how a random Brit like myself came across it, but you are absolutely right re the US criminal justice system. It's often way too unforgiving. This case is a great example. Love the insights into prison life in the US too. You are a great story teller with the bonus of having great stories to tell.
I agree with you 100 percent. I honestly believe this guy does not deserve that sentence at all. I dont know very much about your criminal system but honestly Larry...I see U.S.A's faults all the time. I dont believe the justice system or cops care.
@@amaturetech3048, I don't know if they have it in Colorado, but in my state citizens can have a petition to put a proposal on the ballot and a law can be voted on directly by the voters.
The Governor of Colorado just commuted his sentence to 10 years, from a outcry from the public. Over 5 million people filed complaints about the 110 year sentence and luckily the Governor listened.
You know this driver had bad brakes, didn't follow heated brake protocol to pull over and let them cool down, was speeding, and skipped over multiple emergency truck pull-offs, right? You know, completely and utterly failed to do his job and murdered 4 people...
Your judge gave the lowest state minimums possible on the guilty verdicts after the man turned down a plea deal for 9 years. If you don't like it please write your legislative branch and officials to have the laws changed because the judge gave the bare minimum sentences. The judge did nothing wrong. The man was also extremely guilty and violated pretty much all protocols and killed 4 people in vehicular homicide and injured more to save his own skin, tried to flee the scene, and then lied to PD. That is the short list as he side swiped cars, avoided runaway truck lanes, refused to let his brakes cool, and so much more.
@@Colechamdiceman At the same time, he was fairly new to truck driving. The driver may not have the foresight to know what to do, do to lack of experience. He might of not been able to properly think through the stress and adrenaline. Also, it's Colorado mountains. Those mountains are extreme. His brakes might of been okay at the start of the journey, but the rough terrain may have took a toll on said brakes. The company he worked for, however, should of gotten some, if not most, of the blame. The company had failed to provide good brakes before to other drivers. At the end of the day, it was a horrible accident. It should be tried like that, not intended manslaughter.
I was listening to you talk about this while I was putting my laundry away. One thing that stuck out to me was at the end when you said to, basically, give good acts of kindness. As a US Army Veteran of OIF I always ask folks, "Have you hugged a Vet today?" (Whether they knew I served or not) Because believe me, Larry. It makes a world of difference. For me, it reminds me that there IS love out there. We just need to embrace it. (Totally not trying to sound like a hippie)
In my country (Romania) a famous tv person got in a crash and killed 3 persons. He didn't have any car issue, he totally went on the other side of the road and had huge speed. I don't know exactly if he was drunk or not, but he didn't spend any day in the prison. Actually he is still on TV right now. (check 'Serban Huidu' )
This was a very tragic situation, but 110 years for an accident due to his brakes malfunctioning is absurd! Sending prayers out to the people killed and injured in this tragedy, as well as there families. Also prayers out to this man's family.
"I would have taken my own life in the crash if I had the courage to." What kind of inhuman monster would take this man's life away? The judicial system has taken away so much of my faith in this country that it gets harder and harder to defend these kangaroo courts.
I dont defend it at all at this point, every damn one of these judges and all involved especially exploitive lawyers and district attorneys need to be taken out, real crimes go on in the courts every day and theres noone to sentence or charge them when they break the law, noone should have that much power period
this comes in the middle of a truck driver shortage. Not only is it a tragedy for him and the people involved in the accident. But imagine how many people will NOT chose to become truckers, out of fear. It's disgusting and reckless, how that judge conducted his job. This will not only effect the families involved, but it will damage the supply chain on a national level.
Ok first he was offered a 20 year plea, he didn't take it (he should have). He was a PROFESSIONAL driver!! He was TRAINED to handle such situations as this. And yes I drove semis for 25 years... That being said he doesn't deserve 110 years, but he should have taken the plea. Here is why, truckers are REQUIRED to perform inspections of their trucks EVERY day. Truckers are REQUIRED to refuse to drive unsafe equipment and to report to the DOT if their carrier requires them to turn in the carrier that is unsafe. He also drove past at least 1 emergency ramp... He said he didn't see it, so maybe he closed his eyes because you CANNOT miss the signs for that ramp. He also could have pulled his unsafe truck into a scale and asked for an inspection. He didn't do that either.... For those reasons he deserves prison 10-40 years would have been better
The government has also recently changed the laws and test required to get a CDL license, lessening training requirements and English language proficiency requirements. The kid made mistakes, but the government and the company who knowingly sent him there 2 weeks after being trained, knowing his lack of proficiency in english, and providing a truck with faulty equipment. They should also be held accountable in this, but instead they’re sending this kid who hasn’t had so much as a parking ticket for a prior as a sacrificial lamb. It’s so heartbreaking.
I just watched this video today, a month after it was initially released and I just signed the Rogel Aguilera-Mederos, petition and took steps in helping it get more attention. I really hope this man can be set free soon.
I understand where your coming from but let me shed some light on this since I'm a CDL holder of 18 years it wasn't a simple mistake I've been down that same hill several times first he should have pulled over in a break cheak area checked his breaks went down the hill at a slow speed as soon as he lost his breaks he should hit the runaway ramps he just passed them like they went there regarding he was holding a CDL and should known better
This is the reason I have stoppes driving cars. I can drive a car well "mechanically", I could even potentially be a good racing driver on a circuit if I was the only one on a track. But I struggle with quick reactions to suddenly changing environments, like other cars or pedestrians doing unexpected moves. When something unexpected happens, I just freeze instead of slamming brakes or jerking the wheel, I just internally cannot do something without assesing potential consequences if you know what I mean, like I wont slam brakes because I dont know if anybody is behind me, or I wont suddenly turn because i dont know who is next to me. It is subconscious, I cant change that, when I have a fraction of a second to do something, I just freeze and do nothing. I also have trouble with paying attention to multiple things, like when I arrive at an intersection, I have to pay attention at the lights, other cars, pedestrians, trams, etc... and that is too many things, it often happens that I pay attention to lights and cars, but I forget to check for trams as silly as it sounds, because if a tram comes from an unexpected direction, I might drive right into its path. I am just horrible with quick reactions and paying attention to multiple things simultaneously. I know 100% that sooner or later I would have an accident do to this, and my biggest fear was driving over a child who suddenly runs into the road, or causing a massive accident where people die. People go to prison for this, it doesnt matter that I am not a good driver, if you fail to slam brakes and avoid a child, you go to prison, possibly for decades. And this caused me extreme anxiety everytime I was driving. So I stopped driving. Luckily in Europe we have great public transport and transport between cities, so that taking a tram is quicker than driving sometimes. Now I am only a passenger, at least until somebody developes a driving AI that can help me in those sketchy situations.
Following the nationwide backlash, First Judicial District Attorney Alexis King, the lead prosecutor in the case who personally oversaw pursual of the charges which culminated in Aguilera Mederos's century-plus prison sentence, requested a re-sentencing hearing in his case, with their goal being a sentence ranging from 20 to 30 years.[32] On December 30, 2021, before the planned re-sentencing hearing, Governor Jared Polis commuted Aguilera Mederos's sentence from 110 years to 10 years
As someone who about to lose their driving licence they need for their job over a 0.001mg over the prosecutable limit, how do you go about arguing a situation. All that happened was I got in from work and saw some tequila on the side and had a shot, ordered a McDonald’s but noticed it was going to be delivered too late. I went to pick it up and got breathalysed
Larry how can you defend this guy? He paid for someone else to pass the driving test for him. He was speeding all day, nearly ran a couple off the road earlier that day. His breaks were SMOKING 30 miles before this happened, yet he chose to continue. He went past not one but TWO emergency truck run offs. He didn't have the experience, but lied about it. HE chose the route he drove, not the company. HE was speeding all day long. HE chose to continue, when the breaks needed cooling off. HE chose to flee the scene, and lying to police about what happened. He killed people, and lots of them. Driving too fast, driving something you're technically not even licensed to operate (as he obtained his license in a fraudulent manner) is no longer "negligent", in my opinion. That's taking all the risks and potential fatalities into account, even if you're an idiot, who can't think past tomorrow. People like this (and those who defend them) are the reason why I despise the concept of democracy and 1 person 1 vote.
yeah Larry, here in Melbourne Australia we had a truckie on his phone cause a major accident and two people died,(in Citylink tunnel) he got 8 years I think, he was on the phone. As a truckie myself, I/we have a responsibility above average car drivers. a bad day can mean death.
If I'm not mistaken, he passed multiple runaway ramps after noticing his brakes were faulty. Understandingly, 110 years is far extreme but it could have been avoided had he took that ramp regardless if he misses a deadline or damages his truck.
target fixation, anticipating the crash instead of thinking through escape routes-happens a lot in motorcycle crashes. people don't always think straight when under extreme pressure.
A bit of contrast. In Melbourne Australia, a truck driver high on meth hit and killed four police officers (two of whom were fresh out of the academy). This guy got a minimum sentence of 18 years. The 110 year thing here is ridiculous.
My 1st day over the road i was sent from flat houston to the mountains in Ark & Missouri. I was driving for a major trucking co, and they never taught me how to use my jake brakes. I rode my service brakes downhill a lot. I thank god it wasnt the rocky mountains. My brakes wouldve failed too
Im 17 and my dad is has been a truck driver for the past 20+ years and it hurts my heart how a kid not much older than me about the same age as when my dad started driving being sentenced for 110 years for an accident is truly mind baffling I have been around these trucks all my life and there is a lot of things that can be so little that can cause a big failure and cause an accident and be so huge that any new trucker can miss them and even more so a driver which the truck is not theirs and the owners of the trucks dont check them over or do maintenance just so the truck goes out again and they more money. I have learned that these trucks are not just a get in and drive thank god my dad goes through his truck up and down before he even thinks of moving it.
As a driver I have spoken to my peers about this case. Based on the facts of the case we have agreed that his sentence should be 7-10 years in prison for gross negligence he will not operate any motor vehicle commercial or otherwise on a public road for life and community service. These new drivers coming in are not trained adequately and dont know how to say no. The entire industry needs to learn from this tragedy.
Larry! No hate, but you need to update the "check us out ..." section. Would be way cooler if it showed something closer to the current subscriber count than that 365K subscribers from way back... well actually a year ago I think... :D Fantastic channel growth by the way! I'm happy I found your channel really early!
I had a high school friend that became a DA in a particular county in the 1980's that I choose not to mention. I looked him up and he gladly asked to meet for lunch and catch up. So, we met and I asked how he was doing and related that he loved his job. And I siad what it is you like about it most. Do you know what he said? The thing that really is rewarding and knowing I am good at my job is when I get a guilty verdict from a jury when I secretly know or believe strongly that the defendant was innocent. I was horrified and wondered what had happened to him. This was not the person I knew 10 years ago.
Hey Larry. Truck driver of six years here. When you are driving an 18 wheeler going down hill, it is imperative that you are in the correct gear that will allow adequate engine breaking to keep your speed low enough to stay in control. You must select the gear prior to the downhill grade because your speed and rpms will be too high to downshift. If you try to downshift while going down hill you will be caught out of gear completely with zero control and have a runaway truck. You will rapidly gain speed especially if you are loaded. Your brakes will fail from extreme heat, when applied, and once that happens there is no stopping. Runaway truck ramps are your only chance of stopping. There are always plenty of signs warning of steep grades as well as runaway ramps to stop you if anything goes wrong. It seems the driver failed to be in the correct gear and to exit on runaway ramp when it was available to him. Training for trucking is always rushed to get guys out as fast as possible so the driver and company can make money. It is not an easy job. Lots of stress and risk. Not going to say whether his sentencing is totally justified or not. Just thought I'd comment on proper safety procedures.
This is outrageous! Don't forget to listen to my Podcast, "The Real Deal w/Larry Lawton on all major podcast platforms. New shows every Monday and Friday. Merry Christmas to everyone. Thank you to all the truckers out there for your tireless unappreciated service. I truly appreciate you and thank you. Stay safe.
Well said Larry 💯 The company should have never let a new driver drive bye himself in that location. Many trucker's say that you should not put a new driver in that area
trucks require very strict pre checks and if they find anyone that finds knows or neglected the saftey of a truck they are found 100% responsible / know they did it on purpose
@@chrisabbott978 I am sure that is true
@@copperheaddesigns672 But 110 years, crazy!
Lawton, did you know the prosecuting attorney for this case celebrated taking this man's entire life away with the faulty brakes of the semi truck mounted on the wall like a trophy and posted either on facebook and/or twitter a picture of it to brag about it. The original post was taken down, but not before screenshots of it were captured. We have only seen the tip of the iceberg in regards to the level of cruelty this system encourages, or at the very least the cruelty of the prosecuting attorney who spearheaded the flaws of the system to take this man's life away, then celebrated it by flaunting a trophy on the internet as though it were an award for curing cancer.
As a former semi driver myself, what pisses me off about this case all the blame goes on the driver when it is the company that hired this guy are the TRUE criminals! THEY knew he didn't speak the language, they KNEW he didn't have the experience, and THEY knowingly sent him down the most dangerous stretch of road for a semi driver. Legit trucking companies would NEVER send a rookie untrained driver on a mountain pass. The company owner that knowingly sent this guy down a mountain with zero training is the man/woman who should be in prison.
Its ridiculous to think that one mistake.. one shockingly bad day and you could spend life in prison. Potentially through no fault of your own. He does deserve prison time.... but not the rest of his life. Even 20 years would be extreme. Its like these judges and juries dont seem to comprehend how long these sentences truly are. Even 5 years in jail forever changes the course of your life. We havent modernized our sentences and it shows.
I definitely agree
Thank you for ur services
I'm a driver myself and I know he doesn't deserve anymore time than what he already served. Vehicle breakdowns are part of road everyday.
I agree that the company should hold some culpability. They are now out of business plus due to his cdl restrictions he was not allowed out of TX due to his language limitations. The company had only given his clearance to go out of state two week prior when he was not allowed to and had less than two years drive time. It was a small trucking company with significant citations on their record. My understanding is he did mislead the company by saying he had more experience, regardless of his restricted cdl and his work only visa, and they just said "OK" and sent him without even checking when he couldn't read english. So he misrepresented himself and the company did nothing to verify anything even though he had little experience. The company was small and only had 5 rigs. Again, they were shady AF and are out of business.
As a Colorado resident who was only minutes behind this accident, I am torn. Sentencing a man to 110 years is too much for a negligent mistake. However, this section of I70 is RIDDLED with careless and untrained truckers causing accidents. As a CDL class A holder myself, I understand that inspections and proper driving practices are as critical as if one is piloting an airplane. You are behind the wheel of a LETHAL weapon, if not treated with the greatest respect. The Rocky Mountains steep, long grades are no place for mistakes behind the wheel, and everyone who possess a CDL is made to understand this.
Having said all of that, the legal requirements surrounding this conviction are ridiculous. I believe he should serve time, yes. But a life sentence is a miscarriage of justice.
LOVE your channel Larry. You inspire thoughtful consideration regarding our criminal justice system, and we need it!
Thank you and I agree with you 100% Stay safe out there.
If his only fault was not following inspection regulations, then that's really extreme. There was that nightclub fire in RI which killed like 100 people and the owners got a couple years for poor safety practices.
Honestly don’t think he should be charged. The company he worked for had many safety violations regarding their vehicles so the company he worked for knew these trucks weren’t fit to be driven. I honestly think whoever was in charge of maintaining the vehicle at his company should be the one serving 110 years.
Have they even proved negligence on the driver's part? It sounds to me like the driver may be an innocent victim of the company's errors.
Training definitely needs to be updated as a driver myself I see how bad it's getting going down hills drivers are letting the truck hall ass the hit the break
To think, just 25 years ago. Without all this media and internet coverage, this man probably never would have seen the light of day again. He still may get an extreme sentence, but I hope this movement and your video helps him and those laws are revised to be more justifiable. Love what you do Larry!
He got 10 years. Politician knocked 100 off the sentence. Sucks but hey, it could be 110 still.
@@yoursafeplace8476 He's eligible for parole in 2026.
@@Lebalowski Doesn't mean he'll get it champ. Parole is funny like that. Even if he does get out he'll be under heavy supervision for x amount of time. 6-10 years.
@@yoursafeplace8476 Way better than a 100 year barbaric sentence like that. He'll do his time for that mistake and get out to start living again. Most people in prison aren't gonna fuck with him for something like this, he probably feels guilty as shit anyway. Honestly it's tough, but people died so someone has to bite the bullet. I hope the guy gets out early.
@kylelewkowicz8034 thanks for that info
When you see the button up shirt you know it's serious, and god how serious this is. I hope this all turns out as well as possible considering what's already happened.
Roach Dogg Jr?
@@PigTranceForm100 oh shit!!! I seen him last week!!! He’s still out of control bro.
@@Dad-979 good to hear. I wouldnt expect anything less from the dogg family
Hey Larry! You wanna be a judge?
Yo Larry!! Who the fuck is really tying this judge's hands? Hes a MOTHERFUCKING JUDGE For Christ's sakes!! He's not a goddamn Magistrate or Justice of the peace!! He is high enough in status where he can make his own fucking sentences based SOLELY on the FACTS!
CO. is one of the most liberal states in the damn country!! You can buy a pound of weed..maybe if this driver was high on CO. weed it would be ok?
The driver is obviously Hispanic...but he was able to.accquire a fucking CDL...you must be in this country legally!! The victims,.this is the sad part bc they are dead and not coming back..and yes it hurts my heart!! Only an animal wouldnt be hurt over this.
Is someone in Govt running on a anti-fracking agenda? Kinda doubt it. BUT
who the fuck in Govt took it upon themselves to make vehicular homicide guidelines when there was NO fucking homicide!! Yes, you had many people killed, but none of it was caused knowingly, intentionally, or illegally thru drugs, alcohol, cocaine, uppers or anything of the sort. Did he drive for a company? If so, those are the asshats they need to go after. THEY are the ones who are supposed to maintain important shit...uh like AIR BRAKES So the trucks can stop!! Not a working man who spent most of his life on the fucking road!! Leaving his family alone more than normal to provide for them...bc trucking companies are well known for grinding drivers dicks in the dirt with impossible to keep schedules!! In which the drivers are pulling way more than 10 hrs/day before taking 8 hours rest...which means many drivers drive tired so they dont get the axe from a peckerhead boss!! Heres my last word on this shit is, although I feel so very hurt for the families of the victims, but if he was not found at fault..they need to spring his ass from the joint post haste!!!
Honestly Larry, keep speaking out man. The world needs more guys like you. This case is such a miscarriage of justice. My heart is heavy for, not only the families of the people who died in this case. But this poor trucker who knew made a mistake. Now his life is gone as well. Another victim.
I DISAGREE TO AGREE
He rejected a bench trial and refused a peal deal because he was only willing to accept a traffic violation all of which his lawyers advised against try learning all the facts before calling something a mistrial of justice
@@saulhorowitz6216 guess I should have called you first eh Saul? Stfu. Fine. Maybe justice was served according to the absolute ancient laws set in the USA, but if for one second, someone sat there and said "hmmm, what actually makes sense in THIS case"
We would have a different outcome
@@darrenfunk8440 so what do you think makes sense for someone who took four lives because they passed not 1 but 2 runaway truck exits and drove their truck BACK into traffic after being on the shoulder knowing they had no breaks and refused a 12 year plea deal ?
@@saulhorowitz6216
Is that fact?
Wow if so..
This is the first I'm hearing of this case.
110 years is beyond ridiculous. He could have literally walked into a walmart, pulled out a shotgun and blew away a child in front of their mother and got less time. Think about that.. Our entire Prison and Justice system is so messed up in situations like this.
Did anyone actually watch the case or are they talking out their ass???? He stated in court he had a choice to swerve the car on a wall but chose to hit the cars because it would give him a better survival rate, he then preceded to fucking run away from the scene while people were dying.
Only if your white dude
@@mackjeez proof
@@xenogaming9600 Read the dame trial transcript. He could have avoided killing the 4 people which makes it beyond general negligence that's why he got the long sentence. Not only that he ran away from the entire accident which made things worse.
@@scotttild There is an entire field of machine learning dedicated to analogues of the trolley problem. Where hundreds of people are presented permutations of zero sum games where someone has to die to see what the consensus is because it is an incredibly nuanced issue. He chose his own life over that of others in the heat of the moment, most people would do the same. Can you honestly say that if your life was suddenly on the line that you wouldn't do whatever you could to save it?
As a trucker myself, I nearly threw up last night when I accidentally scraped another truck's faring trying to back into a spot. I've been driving for 2 years and this is the first time I've ever touched another truck.
Luckily for me, It was a very small scratch on his truck and zero damage to my trailer. The guy was very supportive and we exchanged info and I went to sleep.
TLDR, I can't imagine how bad this guy feels and the sentence was HORRIFIC. It's not like he aimed a van at a bunch of protesters or blew up a marathon. It was a mechanical failure. Not a choice.
Yet you got the super truckers saying he should have hit the runaway ramp, but many companies actually fire a driver if they take the runaway ramp....
I agree 1000% please stay safe and thank you for being a trucker. I support the people who make this country move. Very important.
@@truckercowboyed2638 I didn't know that, if they do, they should be held accountable. They should encourage it.
@@johngarofalo3155 Good point and big support for all the truckers out there. Much love from me.
Please don't drive down a mountain
I am a UK viewer of yours and I literally cannot believe they have sentenced this young dude to 110 years. Its barbaric. I really hope some one in prison takes him under his wing. I truly worry that he will unalive himself.
4 people dying and more injured because of your mistake isint something that you should just get a slap on the wrist for. I'm from Scotland it doesn't matter what part of the world your from loss of human life is loss of human life end of. Someone has to be held accountable.
@@McYeroc yes but not for 110 years and also I don't hold the same beliefs as you clearly. I am a prison abolitionist.
@@McYeroc I’m not saying he should walk free however 110 years it’s Ridiculous.
@@McYeroc Go to a different page, you Troll. We can all see what your trying to do here. Tiochfaidh ar la, you hun.
@@xxmysterygirl101xx A prison abolitionist? Now isn't that nice? How about we release all the murderers and rapists and put them on your street as your new neighbors? Would you agree to this?
Update: his sentence just got lowered to 10 years!😁
Still too long.
@@aonstability5428 he’s eligible for parole on 2026. still sucks but it’s something
It's ridiculuous. Yes he failed to do checks on his truck, but putting him into jail doesn't make anything better. Who's to say that even if he would have done checks on his truck he would have noticed that fault? USA is totally fucked.
@@DeethAlAkir that’s… uh… the point of a check? Duh?
Still long but much better!
Reading some of the comments here really makes me think the thing our species and justice system lacks most is the ability to have empathy.
OHHHH So true and spot-on, happened with the last president.
Amen
@@LarryLawtonJewelThief can you make a video about race. Haven't seen all your videos but in case you have. What I mean is, does race really have a difference in the system. You have said you studied law and people must have come to you for help.
I know race can have an impact but just wondering if it's a big difference or not.
Thanks and have a good one. Love your videos.
Its more about money than race in the court sytems. All about how good of a lawyer you can get. Look at how crime is soaring though in cities that are being soft on crime though.
@@LarryLawtonJewelThief Current*
And Ethan Couch suffering from "affluenza" drives drunk and kills 4 people and he gets released after 720 days. And a clear accident gets this poor guy 110 yrs. Complete insanity. I hope this video goes more than viral. Great job Larry!!
God! Ethan Couch. I hate that guy and his whole family. Disgusting.
The passion and humanity you express proves your one of the few people that went to prison and you where truly reformed. Not because prison/jail works to reform prisoners as a system... But because you persevered in spite of the broken system. I always say, "in your darkest hour your true colors shine through." You where strong enough to go through something horrible like the system and came out a better person. Which is so rare. I'm glad your one of the people on the streets. The world needs more people like you man. Of course people need repercussions for breaking the law. But those repercussions need to leave room to truly allow people to grow as a person. The system in place right now is so hell bent on punishment that it breaks people down as a human being. It doesnt build them up to become a better person. How you ended up as a good person in the end is nothing short of a testimate as to how strong of a person you are.
Pure facts.
Beautifully said💖
>trucker accidentally kills people with failed brakes - 110 years in prison
>multi billionaires are working people to death for record breaking profits while paying barely liveable wages - praised
GREAT point
The USA praises trash
For all that don't know the governor reduced his sentence by 100 years, bringing it down to a 10-year sentence.
10 years is too much
@@Mise22 10 years, 5 with parole with a suspension of cdl
@@charlescourtwright2229 still too much consideding he's not at fault for anything
@@Muneeb. I think in my country he wouldn't have got anything or he would it probably would be like small fine or something. But ofcourse american system is broken and only for business.
@@Mise22 yup
As a trucker myself, I can tell you things go wrong even with perfectly inspecting the equipment, this driver did nothing intentional and given his inexperience, he probably wasn't taught how to recover from brakes fading down a mountain....
My thoughts exactly. I respect truckers so much. I have a 38-ft RV and I see a lot of crazy shit on the roads. Truckers get my utmost respect. Stay safe my friend.
Exactly I'm not a truck driver but I've worked at landscaping or still do and I can tell you things can still go wrong and it's not even the drivers fault
In any field, you will encounter unexpected problems, even with perfect preparation. Sometimes you don't know what to do and require more training or help from someone more experienced. It's unfortunate that in this case it was high stakes and it cost the lives of other people, but 110 years for this man won't change anything or make the highways safer. It would be 1 thing if he purposely drove the truck into a preschool or pack of cars, but he didn't. He experienced a problem he wasn't prepared for, and that's what sucks. If the judge/jury/prosecutor intended to "scare" other truck drivers into driving more safely (i.e. make an example out of this kid), they failed. And that's a terrible way to address safety concerns, anyway.
@@ext93 ...and in an industry pushing drivers to the brink and in many cases not dealing with unsafe equipment in a timely manner.
Maybe they shouldn't have allowed him on that route, which apparently was a hard route to drive in best conditions and there was evidence that he had break problems
I'm a former trucker myself. It seems like there was a severe lack of training for this guy. He was from Texas not Colorado, he was just driving through Colorado for this load. This may have been the first time he drove in mountains. They just don't have mountains like this in Texas. When I started driving I had to spend 5 weeks with a trainer. This included a requirement that I drive several mountain grades under the supervision of that trainer before I ever got to drive solo. I don't think this guy had any training after CDL school.
An from what I read he lied about his experience to even get the job.
His lack of skill an training is what's wrong with companies just giving out cdls.
I was wondering if he even use his Jake brake or exhaust break, or if he just using his regular brakes which would cause a brake failure.
Former Trucker here too... Yep those Mountain passes are..... something else that's for sure. That being said, my first time going through them I made sure to pull over at the top before the decline at the clearly marked "Trucker pull off and check" station before my decent to avoid something exactly like this. 15 minutes spent going over your truck to make sure every little thing is in order and functioning correctly can literally save lives. All that said... 110 years for an accident is beyond ridiculous, 2-5yrs would have been justice... 110 is ending another life for no reason, its not justice.
@@Eagleclaw43567 He had paid a FL company to pass his cdl as he was unable to. That's how he got his cdl, someone took the test for him and he could not read english. He lied about his experience to the trucking company as well. He never claimed to use his jake brake at all and clearly told his boss and another driver he could not keep the rig in gear once the descent started and was using his air brakes the whole way down. He then lied to the PD after trying to flee the scene saying he had done this exact mountain run before, which was also untrue. Both the company that he paid for his cdl and the company he worked for are out of business.
@@Lizzard2060 that makes a sense. I heard about those places in Florida where you can buy a CDL.
Yeah he should not have been behind that wheel at all, he deserves to go to prison. But for 110yrs no, maybe like 10-15yrs. But than again he caused it with his many of mistakes he decided to make.
@@Eagleclaw43567 OK, but his plea offer was 10 to 15 and his defense got it down to 9yrs and he stood by his grandiose statement and said "I deserve a speeding ticket" and that was all he believed he deserved. So he could have had 9 yrs but he chose to go to trial after being explained the risks because he knew better. Even though he had so many lies like his cdl, his lack of experience, his lying to the cops, fleeing the scene, etc. that would come out. I get 110 looks crazy but the sentence people are asking for he already turned down because he felt he didn't deserve any jail time and deserved only a speeding ticket.
Saw an update on this his sentence got reduced to 10 years
Larry, having served several years in both Federal & State prison myself, I couldn’t agree with you more. That being said, I belonged in prison for what I did. Honestly, it may have been the best thing that ever happened to me. I say that because I got a second chance and I’ve used that chance to turn my life around. My criminal days were more than 30 years ago and I’ve never looked back. I haven’t had so much as a traffic ticket since. To take people with non violent criminal convictions and throw their lives away under the guise getting justice is absurd. There was no justice served here. We definitely need criminal justice reform but in both directions. We need to not criminalize every little thing that people do like smoking marijuana for instance. but on the flip side we need to enhance penalties for repeat violent offenders. Mandatory minimums were supposed to be for this purpose but are rarely enforced. It’s these repeat violent felons that have helped lay waste to our cities. I currently reside in Baltimore and right now the City States Attorney is in a pissing contest with the Governor over her lack of hard core prosecutions of violent offenders. In my opinion the Governor is 100% correct. Having been in prison I can tell you that there are people who absolutely belong there and some of them should never be allowed to walk amongst us ever again because of the heinousness of their crimes. However, they are the minority. We are supposed to be a society of reform and tolerance. Giving this man 110 years for basically failing to properly inspect his truck is a case of cruel and unusual punishment if there ever was one. I sympathize with the families with those families that lost someone as a result but this was nothing more than a tragic accident.
Having driven that stretch of road more times than I can count i can tell you it was more than an accident. There's more warning signs than I can count plus many, many runway truck ramps for exactly that purpose. 110 years us excessive but he was very criminally negligent and absolutely deserves time.
Nathan, I agree.
Giving this man 110 years is so asinine stupid I can't believe it... but I agree he was negligent, careless, complacent and reckless.
Because of his choice and actions 4 people are dead, many more injured, and how many millions$$$ will be lost in vehicles, goods, insurance claims, lawsuits, repairs, medical, emergency services.....
But 110 years is a completely dumb, cruel and unintended consequence of Colorado's system. Needs fixed.
He needs to serve a many year stretch, but 110...no way.
Amen sir
Dont mean to be rude, but what did you do?
@@cloudyycrib6019 I was involved in racketeering & conspiracy
it is real crazy how a ped0phile gets sentenced less than this trucker who had an accident. pardon my English but this is just outrageous. and also thank you Larry for talking about this case. God Bless.
@16bit Classics And I feel bad for the people that have been died during that accident, but did he really mean to hit these people? they shouldve blamed the company instead.
@16bit Classics I Agree with you. 110 years is ridicules. but RIP to those people.
Thankyou for bringing light to this, I had no idea.
How shocking is it that he is facing 110 years and no mention of the trucking company and their lack of compliance.
Let me just say that as someone who is licensed to drive heavy trucks: this could have happened to me or any other trucker. When you're a newbie, you're bound to make mistakes and when you're put into a dangerous situation without proper training, mistakes cause disaster. Even when I was driving I did a bunch of dumb stuff like getting stuck or taking a road you shouldn't take. Imagine now you're in his position and you're told to drive faulty equipment on dangerous roads. It's no surprise he can't handle the situation well. The cold reality is that these companies hold zero criminal responsibility for any of this, all of it goes on the driver. And they take advantage of inexperienced drivers who will either not properly do the inspections due to lack of experience or who are bound by their job insecurity and feel unable to refuse a dangerous job. Meanwhile this disgusting "tough on crime" legal system will put a non-dangerous young adult in prison for the rest of his life because "think of the victims". There's no way I'm delivering anything to the US anymore after this crap happened (I'm in Canada).
Put the employer in jail, not this poor bastard who was clearly put in a situation over his head because of the massive trucker shortage.
Nobody will want to be a trucker now, and we need them MORE THAN EVER.
Right on Larry
Thoze companies tell drivers how to avoid shit so flaws dont get seen. Or say break the law or lose your job.
Everything aside, but i am laughing imagining a sub 18 year old anime chick driving a heavy truck XDD
@@Th3VirtualGam3r that would be a fire anime tbh
I’m from Australia and viewing this and saying he’s getting 110 years is so wrong and Larry is right it makes the USA look terrible.
I am from France and yes it does make the US look terrible. A life sentence for a terrible accident, i hope the judge doesn't sleep at night anymore.
@@astalnor9990 so what is the right punishment...he is responsible for the deaths of 4 people..but everyone is saying how unjust 110 years is for the driver...no one has even mentioned the 4 families who lost loved ones
Bro your police beats people up for not being in lockdown while the whole world is over it
@@kevinjackson4420 everyone mentioned the lives lost bro and us 110 yrs is horrible
@@jamesdukes1869 seems weird I work as a dispatch for longhaul truckers and none of my guys said they mentioned any of the families only the "poor" driver so try again
You are so right Larry. I admire you turning your life around and trying to help people. You have a heart and I so respect that. Thank you for caring about people and trying to help people Larry. No matter what others may say I appreciate the work you do trying to help people. Its great to see how you have flipped things in your life.
I just heard about this and at first I was like damn he must’ve been drunk. Nope. Then I was like um what the hell? Poor dude. Crazy to know you can drive sober legally and just have an accident and end up in hell for the rest of your life. Awful
My thoughts exactly.
@@LarryLawtonJewelThief This could be anyone someday, Anybody. Even a loved one..
Thank you for touching on this topic Larry. I know I sent you an email on this and hopefully many others did. There's a lot of factors that came into this crash and many being controversial among the trucking industry. But in the end its the sentencing that is absurd and I'm glad you covered it and was able to show the people just how screwed up our justice system can be.
Being a truck driver we are always held to the higher standards as professionals. But everyone is new at some point and some are not as experienced in the industry as others. Meaning you have new guys come in and have a general idea of how things work, and then you have some that are 100% clueless and rely on the training. This guy unfortunately was very new and had a lot to learn. That inexperience showed here and now his life is ruined over an accident. I really hope the best for this man and If I could, I would love to take him into my company and give him all the training and experience he would need to be a better driver.
WTF, this should be like a 1 year sentence. Enough to send a message to truck drivers that there are serious consequences, but not so much that you basically end someone's life and discourage people from an industry that already has labor shortages. Put that guy back in a truck after a year in prison and I bet he is the safest driver on the road.
Nope he deserves to spend more than a year in jail. He failed to do his pre-trip inspection, during his trip he noticed his brakes were having problems but instead of stopping he decided to continue, he missed two runaway ramps because he didn’t want to “damage the truck”. He had plenty of opportunities to avoid what happened but he made the wrong decision each and every time. He deserves to spend some time in prison for his negligence which resulted in the death of four innocent people
@@20P4U do you think if you personally spent 1 year in jail or 5 years in jail or 20 years for some mistakes and accidents you've done in your life it would change your behavior? How much time in prison becomes detrimental to society because when he gets out he will be totally dependent on the system and unable to work?
Does the driver deserve to go to prison? Yes
But 110 years is completely ridiculous for a crash. I have never thought there would have been this big of a split in the trucking community. Yeah the driver majorly screwed up by not ditching the truck at some point going down the mountain. He passed at least 3 runaway truck ramps after it was clear that he was out of control.
And full disclosure, yes I am a truck driver who has gone down that way 2 or 3 times fully loaded.
he could've gotten 100 years per person he killed everyone is mad for no reason in my eyes. he was given the minimum on all of the charges. the 110 years is 100% the right sentence.
Commercial fisherman here i agree . I've got a Ships Master Class 4 which requires sea time and about a year of school , did I make mistakes when I started out running a boat myself ? Hell yes I did , no ones perfect throw the book at him for sure but 110 years is throwing the whole library at him .
@@Atomman1231 No it's not. How more wrong can you be.
@@bestlaptop_psn seeing as he got the minimum for each charge i dont think im wrong he had 3 chances to go on a runaway ramp and chose not to he instead chose to drive into traffic your actions have consequences and these are his he was not driving the truck properly on that moutain and people died and got injured because of it. he deserves the 110 years anyone would be in the same spot if we made the same choices
@@Atomman1231 He lost control of the vehicle and then reacted poorly and yes he should get a sentence but the 110 year sentence is wrong.
The court railroaded him he did not deserve the tremendous amount of time smh. It's so sad to see people get done this way it's 100% unjust
“100% unjust” say that to the 4 people that died , they don’t get a second chance , he should get 25 to life , end of discussion
This whole case is so upsetting, As someone who drives a truck myself. Sometimes things do fail after they’re inspected. Yes 4 people lost their lives. Does he deserve to lose his license, yes, does he deserve a year or 2 in a low security prison, maybe he does. He certainly doesn’t deserve to have his life taken away over one mistake that’s going to haunt him for the rest of his life. Love the content Larry. Keep up the good work!
Four other people got their lives taken away because of his one mistake. I agree completely that 110 years is ridiculous and unjust, but too many people here are downplaying the responsibility this man held in ending the lives and futures of these people just going about their day.
@@weslandia2001 no one is downplaying the loss of life, they are simply against taking away his life for this horrible accident.
I don't even think he deserves any prison. Accidents happen. Now we're criminalizing accidents?
Aa someone who drives truck yourself how many runaway exits would pass before you say hey maybe I should get on one those things one maybe two? Would you pull onto the shoulder and then back into traffic if you knew your breaks were down? Would you go against the advice of lawyer and reject a possible 15 year deal even though you recklessly killed four people because you were only willing to accept a traffic violation? I'm just curious
@@ChristinaTodd1970 what did he do to try and avoid it? He passed not one but three runaway ramps. He also could have put the truck in a ditch
I don't understand how the system can just destroy someone's life because of a mistake. Why should this man be punished by a moral standpoint? It's not like you're stopping him from commiting more crimes, he didn't intend to commit the crime in the first place!
It's so hard to even comprehend something like this.
I think what did him in was the fact he was speeding, passed 2 truck hills, and didnt let the breaks cool off. It is tough cause I think the trucking company should be taking the responsibility for sending the kid out there where he wasnt ready to drive mostly. I think he should serve concurrently considering the families accepted his apology.
So if I'm out on the highway, my life depends on a semi driver letting his brakes "cool off"? Don't think so.
Yeah, I totally get that about the work place culture. A lot of companies say they care about safety but as soon as it inconveniences them, they’re willing to look the other way. Not all companies of course. It sounds like the trucker driver messed up but 110 years it insane.
How is this more humane than a death sentence? Going to go sign the petition if I can, great video Larry!
UPDATE: a week after this the CO governor reduced the sentence to 10 years. I whole heartedly agree with you on this topic. Things need to change and hopefully this was a wakeup call for reform.
Glad to hear that.. thank you for the update
On point 👏
This is outrageous Jess, our system is soooo broken.
Fancy seeing you here, Jess. Love your videos!
@@steele_heart77 That's my girl
I would like to see his log book driver can only drive so many HR so most truck driver speed to get there miles up and if a driver is speeding and get in a life changing accident they should get life how many times has a truck blew past you cuz they are running out of hrs to drive so they get there miles up most truckers get pared by the mile not the HR tho they must rest for so long and can be on the road for so long the log book will tell the truth
@@deeznutz._.4oil Yet another argument against the industry, which is why I believe the company should be held liable for negligence. But even if the company is held accountable, the law itself is unjust. There was no intent, there was no premeditation, it was simply an accident. Two or three years is more reasonable, but no one should have their entire life taken away from them for a simple mistake.
Part of the fault was that there were 2 or 3 runaway ramps that this driver passed after discovering that his breaks were not working. There is no question he was negligent, however I also agree that a life sentence is extreme. The question is; where do you draw the line? How long is enough to send a message and yet be fair? A real can of worms.
Any normal person would say at least 10 but a do gooder like the man above 2-4 🤣 joke
Exactly. He is guilty of reckless endangerment and of involuntary manslaughter. But 110 years is insane. 10 years, maybe? Even that's harsh.
Ok, but how do you deal with faulty brakes on a 16 ton< truck down a road at roughly 60mph. If he goes up the ramp, his momentum is just gonna carry him back down the other side, because I am pretty certain that those ramps are not very big. He’s on the freeway so it’s not like He is able to just slam the shifter into first gear to slow down, all that would do is cause a pile up.
mans acting like you can easily go down a runway ramp in a 10 ton vehicle at like 100mph with a ton of stress
Do you drive a truck, have you used one at 100mph?
It’s so sad when you see people who’ve been so obviously screwed by the system. We need serious reform and quick.
Very true Tommy
I know man, situations like this cannot slide in our justice system. It makes no sense.
The US got the best legal system in human history from England. But they changed the most important part which is the reason the US's treatment of it's own citizens is one of the most barbaric & over the top "Justice" systems in the world. The prosecution service (D.A) and judges should be appointed by their peers and not voted into office every few years by the public because over time this leads to judges & district attorneys promising the public, "Vote me in and I'll be twice as tough on crime as the other guy." A judge should pass sentence without bias or fear of losing his job for being too lenient...otherwise it leads to people being sentenced to hundreds of years in prison, their lives thrown away without mercy by over zealous prosecutors & judges just wanting to look extra tough on crime in the hope being voted in again and keeping their job for a few more years.
The US & it's legal system has become barbaric, very cruel and unforgiving towards it's own people.
Was just watching this, in my opinion it's kind of demotivating knowing an accident caused by faulty machinery can result in a long sentence; Sure 4 people died but I'm pretty sure with truckers there are companies who maintain the trucks and if the brakes didn't work, then wouldn't the company be responsible unless the driver had played around with the brakes before hand?
edit - Well thanks for the information, I don't know anything about trucking but I guess I was wrong in my statement
I agree, this is so crazy
Actually no it falls onto the drivers we have a check list we have to go through daily
I think technically you are responsible for checking your rig, im not a trucker but my uncle does it for his own company. I know to get the cdl you have to go through a multi point checklist and if you miss something on it then you fail the test and have to come back and do it again. This could just be Indiana though, I can't speak for other states
@@bryangrivno Also knowing how to properly drive down a long hill or mountain, Doing so wrong and this will happen. Not to mention passing at least one truck runaway ramp.
Any brakes would malfunction on a long steep descend if you use them incorrectly. Especially on a loaded truck.
Plus the guy missed the runaway ramp.
Sentence is absurd, but it's not like the guy is innocent
I've seen so many deadly accidents play out with no punishment other than monetary compensation
This blows my mind. Just awful. Larry I hope you and your family have a merry Christmas my friend.
Same to you and your family. It is incidents like this that make me realize tomorrow is truly never promised.
@@LarryLawtonJewelThief 100% agree. In the last six months I can’t even tell you how many hours of your content I have watched. The one thing I’ve taken away from your channel is to think through every action that I make because even the slightest accident could cost you or somebody else a life.
Speaking as a Brit, this is insane. We would give him, at most, 3 years, if he was held to be careless. If he was held to be dangerous (far below the standard of a competent driver as opposed to merely careless) he'd get a maximum of 7 years in practice. Technically its 5 and 14 respectively but in practice its 3 or 7. In really bad cases it might be charged as manslaughter but realistically it would be seen as Death by Careless or Inconsiderate Driving or, at a real stretch, Death by Dangerous Driving.
Edit - Also we have mandatory minimums for very few cases, the judge can always disregard that minimum for exceptional cases, with the sole exception of murder. For murder the only sentence allowed is life, but there is no lower limit on the minimum tariff, although guidelines are used to determine the fair sentence.
I read that he had a restricted CDL tor the state of Texas only, due to his poor command command of the English language. He needing more practical training experience.
Youre the man Mr. Lawton. Speaking your opinion with REAL common sense, reason,,and empathy. I appreciate your understanding that prisons and law and order are neccessary, while understanding how fucked up and ineffective our system is.
Trucking business in general is scary at times right now
And every country has their extreme law cases that make others go wtf, not saying its right, it just is
So true but this is out there and can be fixed
In 2019 a guy ran a stop sign in a semi and hit a youth hockey team. Devastating. 16 kids killed, 13 injured. He got 8 years here. Parents were in vehicles behind and saw it happen. Rest in peace Humboldt. People talked about deporting him because he was a landed immigrant but many families with passed kids fought for him to stay. It was beautiful. I almost died when I saw this sentence. What is gained? This young man needs help. It's just so sad & wrong.
I just heard about this case a couple days ago... the fact that anyone can get a sentence like that because of an *accident* is just insane. It's not like he got into a fight with someone and accidentally killed them. This guy's brakes failed on a truck.. It's completely 100% not fair what Colorado did to him.
This was NOT just an accident, he made the choice to pass up runaway truck ramps as well as not using other safety devices that were installed and operable on his truck. Im willing to bet that if one of your family members was killed you would think differently and educate yourself to the FACTS of this grossly negligent murder of 4 people and seriously wounding 10+ more people. 100% not fair to the victims !!!!!!!!!! ok, then give him half, 50 YEARS!!!!!!
@@countryflyer4536 Yeah, I've heard the story of what happened.. thanks for coming off as condescending though. If you really think that he purposefully avoided runaway truck ramps in order to barrel into traffic then you're the one who needs to be educated. The *kid* panicked, hence why it's called an ACCIDENT. I'm willing to bet if you were in his shoes, you wouldn't want 110 years for not making decisions quickly enough. There's two sides to the coin, so don't try to act like you're Mr. Know-it-all. You've already made clear that you have no understanding of Justitia but nice try commenting and trying act smart.
@@SouloDoloMusic having lived here in Colorado my whole life and being a 6th gereration to do so, i would suggest to you the same as my comment that you have responded to. This was no accident, it was a choice to drive a deadly weapon that he didnt know how to drive. Kids are capable of murder, even if he didnt set out that day to do so. His actions and his only resulted in death. You should probably head back to California where this would be ok. If every truck driver that had brake failure decided to NOT use the runaway truck ramps there would be hundreds of desths across this country. What about him trying to flee the scene whats your twisted thoughts on that...im sure you think that the KID thing should justify that as well...wake up and look in the mirror....
@@countryflyer4536 he’s a a rookie that doesn’t even speak english and the company should be arrested for sending a rookie on. a mountain run with little training and they should have also known to check the breaks before they sent him on the job
@@countryflyer4536 you're just another conspiracy theorist at this point and the trucking company knowingly put a rookie driver on the hardest truck driving roads in america if anything its the company's fault for negligence and having lived in colorado means nothing in this case whatsoever
I hope you have a Merry Christmas Larry. It’s a shame what’s happening to that guy, it wasn’t his fault
Even with fault, it is crazy. Merry Christmas to you and your family.
It most certainly was his fault! His negligence in this event was horrendous! He needs to serve some time for taking 4 lives. I agree that 110 years is excessive and his attorney is already filing for an appeal to review the sentence. I'm sure it will get heard before an appellate court and very likely will get reduced to something more reasonable...say 20 years.
For someone with his CDL and is ASE certified in multiple aspects of wrenching and have worked on tractors and trailers for years now brake shoes and drums can fail in a blink of an eye even if a proper pretrip was done.
Springs for brake shoes wear out, drums crack and can not be seen without having to remove tires, brake fade and glazing happens which again cant be seen without removing tires and drums.
If you wanted to properly inspect a truck which i do daily normally takes about 3-6 hours and alot of tools including air tools and knowledge.
Brakes failing happen so often they have run off ramps for a reason thats why i personally love disk brakes that are pretty much the norm finally for all new tractors and trailers being manufactured for now on.
The governor reduced the sentence to 10 years after 5 million signatures.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Larry really knows court stuff. Tbh if he was a lawyer, I'd hire him to be mine. He's the one that's been sentenced, he KNOWS the system.
I agree with you 110 years is just straight ridiculous. I think this is an example of a very flawed system. First off from what I heard about that company they had alot of dot violations and apparently this guy's truck was having problems. Second of all it is federal law for truck drivers to do a pre trip inspection everyday and the driver admitted he didn't do it. Also the driver did have multiple runaway truck ramps and didn't use them. He does deserve prison time but not 110 years. It is way ridiculous. Plus being a truck driver myself I 70 west of Denver is the most treacherous stretch of interstate in the country and you do not send a rookie driver that way. I've ran that stretch of road many times and it's not for the inexperienced driver so his company should've never had him up there.
I’ve been in the seat for 8 years and 600k safe miles, my teammate has been in for 10 with over 1mil. No tickets no accidents. We both think this sentence is absurd. 5-10 years. Yes we do a pre trip and post, we drive team, and we’ve still had stuff fail mid trip without warning. Maybe not a pushrod for the brakes failing or a wheel falling off, but we’ve had issues before. There’s only so much you can do. Charge his company for being predatory and making him run bad equipment. Being a new driver, I guarantee he was afraid to say no due to the risk of losing his employment. This should never be the case. Safety before profit. We need an industry overhaul as well as a judicial overhaul.
Larry, you hit it dead on the screws, coach! You're a good dude, man. The world's a better place for people like yourself being in it.
Larry! What blows me away is that they're sentencing this dude for 110 years in prison but no one at the higher offices in Boeing got charged for 300+ counts of involuntary manslaughter!? WTF!!!
@16bit Classics Yeah and it needs to change or we're all going to hell.
@@tidan4575 Everyone on their way to hell, but Jesus Christ is here to save you from that road.
Truckers get no break when it comes to accidents. They look at you as a professional and you shouldn't make mistakes. What I'm not understanding is why he passed the run away truck ramp .
Panicking probably
Hey Larry, I have a couple truckers in my family, and I asked them about this. They said they know there are runaway ramps all along I70 that he could have used. And when a truck doesn't have brakes, there really isn't much the driver can do. You can force a downshift and destroy the transmission, but that takes time. You can stomp the brakes but they will burn out if you are in a runaway truck. The only other real option is to use a runaway ramp. But at the same time it's hard to keep a cool head when you can't control your vehicle.
They also went on to say that it's not his fault. He checks the truck yes, it's a pre ride inspection. But the company that worked on them is at fault. It would be the exact same as if I messed up someone's brakes and they hit a pedestrian because they couldn't stop. It's my fault for negligence, and the driver will get punished but not so much as I.
Simply put, this entire case is bullshit, and it really seems like they didn't actually give a shit about justice. Obviously the trucker could have made better decisions. But the brakes weren't his fault, at all.
Larry: "We must look like the most barbaric country in the world."
America, the only country where we call each other savage on a daily basis.
The problem is that he couldn't read the signs on the road due to a language barrier. When I realized that, I understand why I was such a harsh sentence. He knew he wasn't qualified, and he chose to drive irresponsibly.
In my opinion that is the same as driving under the influence.
Thank you for your service Larry.. you inspire me to be the best version of myself I can be.
Judge needed to put his career on the line over this. If the judge said 5 years, who the hell would want to fight that.
Anyhow, Gov, now in your court.
Yep, The Governor is in the hotseat. Lets blame the prosecutor who knew what could ahve hapened.
This absolutely shouldn't be a life sentence. I love your points and views on these cases. People need to have a spine and see between right and wrong. I really hope something changes with this sentencing otherwise there is no justice.
Larry, from my experience as a truck driver for many years. When I obtained my cdl we were trained or more like informed that the driver is responsible for making sure that the brakes on a truck and the condition their in are your responsibility before you take off on a trip. Which sounds good but c'mon , most of these young guys just getting into trucking are not mechanics and really have only minimal understanding of a big trucks braking system. This rule is just to protect the trucking industry on the whole. As a new driver your really just thrown out on the road with basically no experience and your just doing the best you can to keep up with the fast pace and keeping your job. The blame should be directly on the trucking company he works for. Because in all practicality the driver of a big rig is not a trained mechanic, end of story. Thankyou for supporting the trucker sounds like he's gonna need it...
As a former cdl driver I find this disgusting, I could see him getting 5-10 years for what happened.
I have also had breaks fail on a semi, they were brand new and in perfect condition, the shoes were made of faulty material and crumbled. I have also had airlines rupture, none of these things would be seen on investigation if the truck and trailer caught fire and burned down.
To all those that say "Well if the truck was unsafe to drive then leave it parked" then how are you going to feed your family, part of the responsibility lies with the company, this is not a one person at fault situation.
also, the company assigns trucks right? you don’t go out everyday and pick your own for the day right?
@@jeah723 some companies run slip seat trucks where you share the truck and some places do have it where you take whatever truck is in the yard I have worked for all 3 kinds.
If it was a non sleeper truck it it much more likely to be a multi driver unit. Again I am.saying this as part of the blame belongs on the company, but the driver is at fault as well.
But it wasn't just his brakes. The evidence shows that the entire time he drove on the descent he had troubles even keeping the truck in gear. Evidence was also presented that he paid a FL company person to take his cdl for him so would you still stand up for him the same when someone pays for their cdl as they couldn't pass it themselves and then took this mountain route for the first time? He had called his boss and another driver due to the truck not being in gear and his brakes having issues only 1/3 of the way down the mountain. He drove way too fast for a descent from 10,000 to 5,500 feet. He skipped runaway truck ramps. He refused to used pull over spots marked with signs and blinking lights for truckers to cool their brakes. He side slammed other cars and was said to be driving erratically down the mountain. He tried to flee the scene. He lied to the cops. The list goes on. . . . .
I believe you and I know some companies are shady and have you sign for a rig not in working order and basically force you to make due with it. They have, in the past, made people alter logs and stay at the wheel longer than legally allowed, try to skip or bribe some weigh stations and more. I even freaked the one time my air brakes went out and not all the way but I was not getting my full pressure and spent God knows how long checking every inch of hose. This was just not that. This was a deceitful and remorseless man who felt he should get nothing more than a traffic ticket and was offered a plea deal of 10 to 15 which his defense got down to 9 yrs and he stood by stating "he should only receive a speeding ticket" and went to trial and he lost big time when he knew the risks of going to trial and he knew all his lies would be called out. His has been arrogant and shown no remorse for the victims who were burned alive in their vehicles or the injuries suffered and the only tears you see are for himself. He is crying because he finally got caught in his lies. If people wanted the short sentence then he should have taken the plea deal and not wasted everyone time on a trial that cost the state a ton of money. He was aware of the potential time he could get going to trial and he felt he should only get a traffic violation instead of 9 years and rolled the dice and now he cries, not when he killed four people by burning them to death.
@@Lizzard2060 where is ur evidence at tho because I saw a video of this and not once I saw what ur talking about
@@jamesdukes1869 I linked in another question like yours. I gave 5 sources and there is video of him coming down the incline "erratically" while passing a runaway ramp.
Hey Larry, i youtuber named Jake Tran recently made a "tutorial" video on how to rob a jewlery store and he goes into all of the steps, everything from scoping out to getting a crew etc... (and he mentions you in the video) can you please make a review on the video and tell us of its accurate ?
Can you please send me that in an email larry@realitycheckprogram.com I will look into it
I’m really happy that I watched his old videos. Where he was out in his garage in a sweatshirt. And no big UA-cam plaques or anything. And to see him come this far is amazing really proud :$
I've been driving a truck for 9 years. I'm going to tell you stuff breaks parts fail. No matter how much you do the up keep on the truck. Sad I feel real bad for that driver
Same bro I'm not a truck driver tho but I feel for him
I understand you excatly. It is crazy, stay safe out there, and thanks for being a person that keeps this country moving. Truckers need more respect.
Scary as fuck, as we are all just one mistake from being in this guy's shoes. He doesn't deserve 110 years by any means, this is so fucked up.
Take care Larry
Michael if he is a new truck driver the training sucks. If the company trained him they are the ones that's says his ready for a truck or not. I've had brakes get hot and smoke down hill. It's not fun. But for speeding could have missed a gear. And some newer truck drivers don't even know what truck run way ramps or for.
@@Michael-dh2sw where are getting that info bro ur clearly wrong
Heads up to anyone that hasn't kept up with it, the truck driver's sentence was reduced to 10 years on Dec. 30th thanks to Gov. Polis granting the driver commutation
Great channel:) Not sure how a random Brit like myself came across it, but you are absolutely right re the US criminal justice system. It's often way too unforgiving. This case is a great example. Love the insights into prison life in the US too. You are a great story teller with the bonus of having great stories to tell.
I agree with you 100 percent. I honestly believe this guy does not deserve that sentence at all. I dont know very much about your criminal system but honestly Larry...I see U.S.A's faults all the time. I dont believe the justice system or cops care.
I wish I could sign the petition but I'm not a u.s citizen
@@amaturetech3048 Sad Situation but DEF DOESN'T DESERVES 110 YRS
I APPRECIATE YOU, GLAD U SEE THE RIDICULOUSNESS OF THIS CASE👏🏼👏🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
I think you have a point.
@@amaturetech3048,
I don't know if they have it in Colorado, but in my state citizens can have a petition to put a proposal on the ballot and a law can be voted on directly by the voters.
@@amaturetech3048 lucky you
The Governor of Colorado just commuted his sentence to 10 years, from a outcry from the public. Over 5 million people filed complaints about the 110 year sentence and luckily the Governor listened.
As a coloradoan this blew me away. Whoever that judge was, he needs to be fired effective immediately.
You know this driver had bad brakes, didn't follow heated brake protocol to pull over and let them cool down, was speeding, and skipped over multiple emergency truck pull-offs, right? You know, completely and utterly failed to do his job and murdered 4 people...
Your judge gave the lowest state minimums possible on the guilty verdicts after the man turned down a plea deal for 9 years. If you don't like it please write your legislative branch and officials to have the laws changed because the judge gave the bare minimum sentences. The judge did nothing wrong.
The man was also extremely guilty and violated pretty much all protocols and killed 4 people in vehicular homicide and injured more to save his own skin, tried to flee the scene, and then lied to PD. That is the short list as he side swiped cars, avoided runaway truck lanes, refused to let his brakes cool, and so much more.
@@Colechamdiceman
At the same time, he was fairly new to truck driving. The driver may not have the foresight to know what to do, do to lack of experience. He might of not been able to properly think through the stress and adrenaline.
Also, it's Colorado mountains. Those mountains are extreme. His brakes might of been okay at the start of the journey, but the rough terrain may have took a toll on said brakes.
The company he worked for, however, should of gotten some, if not most, of the blame. The company had failed to provide good brakes before to other drivers.
At the end of the day, it was a horrible accident. It should be tried like that, not intended manslaughter.
I was listening to you talk about this while I was putting my laundry away.
One thing that stuck out to me was at the end when you said to, basically, give good acts of kindness.
As a US Army Veteran of OIF I always ask folks, "Have you hugged a Vet today?" (Whether they knew I served or not)
Because believe me, Larry. It makes a world of difference. For me, it reminds me that there IS love out there. We just need to embrace it. (Totally not trying to sound like a hippie)
What A Man What A Video . Thank You
Know what, I completely agree with all of the points you made it’s just ridiculous how an accident with no intent should have his life taken away.
In my country (Romania) a famous tv person got in a crash and killed 3 persons. He didn't have any car issue, he totally went on the other side of the road and had huge speed. I don't know exactly if he was drunk or not, but he didn't spend any day in the prison. Actually he is still on TV right now. (check 'Serban Huidu' )
This was a very tragic situation, but 110 years for an accident due to his brakes malfunctioning is absurd! Sending prayers out to the people killed and injured in this tragedy, as well as there families. Also prayers out to this man's family.
In that case he should be given no punishment. This was not his choice.
Driving is inherently dangerous and the risk should be shared by all parties.
@@quantum7401 he should serve no jail time, and instead should be offered therapy. The brakes didn't work and things went bad from there.
@@yurichtube1162 The brakes were working before the downhill run, he overheated and then burnt them.
He avoided the runaway ramps, something that is there to prevent these incidents
"I would have taken my own life in the crash if I had the courage to."
What kind of inhuman monster would take this man's life away? The judicial system has taken away so much of my faith in this country that it gets harder and harder to defend these kangaroo courts.
I dont defend it at all at this point, every damn one of these judges and all involved especially exploitive lawyers and district attorneys need to be taken out, real crimes go on in the courts every day and theres noone to sentence or charge them when they break the law, noone should have that much power period
@@jwn5 bro fax
You and I are in 100% agreement. so fucked up
@@jwn5 You are correct, they all should lose their jobs and we need to start fresh. How about based on common sense.
@@LarryLawtonJewelThief common sense and common morales, very much agreed
this comes in the middle of a truck driver shortage. Not only is it a tragedy for him and the people involved in the accident. But imagine how many people will NOT chose to become truckers, out of fear. It's disgusting and reckless, how that judge conducted his job. This will not only effect the families involved, but it will damage the supply chain on a national level.
Ok first he was offered a 20 year plea, he didn't take it (he should have). He was a PROFESSIONAL driver!! He was TRAINED to handle such situations as this. And yes I drove semis for 25 years...
That being said he doesn't deserve 110 years, but he should have taken the plea.
Here is why, truckers are REQUIRED to perform inspections of their trucks EVERY day. Truckers are REQUIRED to refuse to drive unsafe equipment and to report to the DOT if their carrier requires them to turn in the carrier that is unsafe.
He also drove past at least 1 emergency ramp... He said he didn't see it, so maybe he closed his eyes because you CANNOT miss the signs for that ramp.
He also could have pulled his unsafe truck into a scale and asked for an inspection. He didn't do that either....
For those reasons he deserves prison 10-40 years would have been better
The government has also recently changed the laws and test required to get a CDL license, lessening training requirements and English language proficiency requirements. The kid made mistakes, but the government and the company who knowingly sent him there 2 weeks after being trained, knowing his lack of proficiency in english, and providing a truck with faulty equipment. They should also be held accountable in this, but instead they’re sending this kid who hasn’t had so much as a parking ticket for a prior as a sacrificial lamb. It’s so heartbreaking.
I just watched this video today, a month after it was initially released and I just signed the Rogel Aguilera-Mederos, petition and took steps in helping it get more attention. I really hope this man can be set free soon.
I understand where your coming from but let me shed some light on this since I'm a CDL holder of 18 years it wasn't a simple mistake I've been down that same hill several times first he should have pulled over in a break cheak area checked his breaks went down the hill at a slow speed as soon as he lost his breaks he should hit the runaway ramps he just passed them like they went there regarding he was holding a CDL and should known better
Oh dang. Sheds a lot of light. Life in prison seems harsh a bit but it could have been prevented like you said.
He was probably scared to lose his job...if you hit a runaway ramp your probably going to get fired...sucks but he could have gotten another job
I agree, but a mistake or even stupidity doesn't equal malice or intent. Please stay safe yourself
@@NitroGummyBear Nobody says it couldn't have. We don't even give a drunk driver who kills someone this kind of sentence. Let's be real.
@@briancallahan5673 Didn't know that.
This is the reason I have stoppes driving cars. I can drive a car well "mechanically", I could even potentially be a good racing driver on a circuit if I was the only one on a track. But I struggle with quick reactions to suddenly changing environments, like other cars or pedestrians doing unexpected moves. When something unexpected happens, I just freeze instead of slamming brakes or jerking the wheel, I just internally cannot do something without assesing potential consequences if you know what I mean, like I wont slam brakes because I dont know if anybody is behind me, or I wont suddenly turn because i dont know who is next to me. It is subconscious, I cant change that, when I have a fraction of a second to do something, I just freeze and do nothing.
I also have trouble with paying attention to multiple things, like when I arrive at an intersection, I have to pay attention at the lights, other cars, pedestrians, trams, etc... and that is too many things, it often happens that I pay attention to lights and cars, but I forget to check for trams as silly as it sounds, because if a tram comes from an unexpected direction, I might drive right into its path. I am just horrible with quick reactions and paying attention to multiple things simultaneously.
I know 100% that sooner or later I would have an accident do to this, and my biggest fear was driving over a child who suddenly runs into the road, or causing a massive accident where people die. People go to prison for this, it doesnt matter that I am not a good driver, if you fail to slam brakes and avoid a child, you go to prison, possibly for decades. And this caused me extreme anxiety everytime I was driving. So I stopped driving.
Luckily in Europe we have great public transport and transport between cities, so that taking a tram is quicker than driving sometimes. Now I am only a passenger, at least until somebody developes a driving AI that can help me in those sketchy situations.
Following the nationwide backlash, First Judicial District Attorney Alexis King, the lead prosecutor in the case who personally oversaw pursual of the charges which culminated in Aguilera Mederos's century-plus prison sentence, requested a re-sentencing hearing in his case, with their goal being a sentence ranging from 20 to 30 years.[32]
On December 30, 2021, before the planned re-sentencing hearing, Governor Jared Polis commuted Aguilera Mederos's sentence from 110 years to 10 years
As someone who about to lose their driving licence they need for their job over a 0.001mg over the prosecutable limit, how do you go about arguing a situation.
All that happened was I got in from work and saw some tequila on the side and had a shot, ordered a McDonald’s but noticed it was going to be delivered too late. I went to pick it up and got breathalysed
Larry how can you defend this guy? He paid for someone else to pass the driving test for him. He was speeding all day, nearly ran a couple off the road earlier that day. His breaks were SMOKING 30 miles before this happened, yet he chose to continue.
He went past not one but TWO emergency truck run offs. He didn't have the experience, but lied about it.
HE chose the route he drove, not the company. HE was speeding all day long.
HE chose to continue, when the breaks needed cooling off.
HE chose to flee the scene, and lying to police about what happened.
He killed people, and lots of them. Driving too fast, driving something you're technically not even licensed to operate (as he obtained his license in a fraudulent manner) is no longer "negligent", in my opinion. That's taking all the risks and potential fatalities into account, even if you're an idiot, who can't think past tomorrow.
People like this (and those who defend them) are the reason why I despise the concept of democracy and 1 person 1 vote.
yeah Larry, here in Melbourne Australia we had a truckie on his phone cause a major accident and two people died,(in Citylink tunnel) he got 8 years I think, he was on the phone. As a truckie myself, I/we have a responsibility above average car drivers. a bad day can mean death.
If I'm not mistaken, he passed multiple runaway ramps after noticing his brakes were faulty. Understandingly, 110 years is far extreme but it could have been avoided had he took that ramp regardless if he misses a deadline or damages his truck.
He was possibly shitting himself / freaking out.
Merry Christmas to you and yours, Larry!!
There are people in my state that intentionally killed someone and got less than half of this sentence.
target fixation, anticipating the crash instead of thinking through escape routes-happens a lot in motorcycle crashes. people don't always think straight when under extreme pressure.
Small point of clarification: Not all states elect their judges; some are appointed.
A bit of contrast.
In Melbourne Australia, a truck driver high on meth hit and killed four police officers (two of whom were fresh out of the academy). This guy got a minimum sentence of 18 years.
The 110 year thing here is ridiculous.
My 1st day over the road i was sent from flat houston to the mountains in Ark & Missouri. I was driving for a major trucking co, and they never taught me how to use my jake brakes. I rode my service brakes downhill a lot. I thank god it wasnt the rocky mountains. My brakes wouldve failed too
Im 17 and my dad is has been a truck driver for the past 20+ years and it hurts my heart how a kid not much older than me about the same age as when my dad started driving being sentenced for 110 years for an accident is truly mind baffling I have been around these trucks all my life and there is a lot of things that can be so little that can cause a big failure and cause an accident and be so huge that any new trucker can miss them and even more so a driver which the truck is not theirs and the owners of the trucks dont check them over or do maintenance just so the truck goes out again and they more money. I have learned that these trucks are not just a get in and drive thank god my dad goes through his truck up and down before he even thinks of moving it.
Love your focus on injustice. It truly is a tragic system, and for far too many decent people. You’re a standup guy, Larry. Love the channel.
As a driver I have spoken to my peers about this case. Based on the facts of the case we have agreed that his sentence should be 7-10 years in prison for gross negligence he will not operate any motor vehicle commercial or otherwise on a public road for life and community service. These new drivers coming in are not trained adequately and dont know how to say no. The entire industry needs to learn from this tragedy.
Larry! No hate, but you need to update the "check us out ..." section. Would be way cooler if it showed something closer to the current subscriber count than that 365K subscribers from way back... well actually a year ago I think... :D Fantastic channel growth by the way! I'm happy I found your channel really early!
I had a high school friend that became a DA in a particular county in the 1980's that I choose not to mention. I looked him up and he gladly asked to meet for lunch and catch up. So, we met and I asked how he was doing and related that he loved his job. And I siad what it is you like about it most. Do you know what he said? The thing that really is rewarding and knowing I am good at my job is when I get a guilty verdict from a jury when I secretly know or believe strongly that the defendant was innocent. I was horrified and wondered what had happened to him. This was not the person I knew 10 years ago.
Hey Larry. Truck driver of six years here. When you are driving an 18 wheeler going down hill, it is imperative that you are in the correct gear that will allow adequate engine breaking to keep your speed low enough to stay in control. You must select the gear prior to the downhill grade because your speed and rpms will be too high to downshift. If you try to downshift while going down hill you will be caught out of gear completely with zero control and have a runaway truck. You will rapidly gain speed especially if you are loaded. Your brakes will fail from extreme heat, when applied, and once that happens there is no stopping. Runaway truck ramps are your only chance of stopping. There are always plenty of signs warning of steep grades as well as runaway ramps to stop you if anything goes wrong.
It seems the driver failed to be in the correct gear and to exit on runaway ramp when it was available to him.
Training for trucking is always rushed to get guys out as fast as possible so the driver and company can make money. It is not an easy job. Lots of stress and risk.
Not going to say whether his sentencing is totally justified or not. Just thought I'd comment on proper safety procedures.
Glad to hear his sentence got reduced down to 10 years. Although it could be less yes lives were lost but it was not intended.