There is no stopping Kim Kardashian when she gets invested in an unjust cause. A truck driver by the name of Rogel Aguilera-Mederos has been making headlines since he was sentenced to 110 years in prison on Dec. 13 after the brakes on his tractor-trailer failed in 2019. In a terrifying and tragic accident, Aguilera-Mederos lost control on Interstate 70 outside of Lakewood, Colorado which led to a fiery crash that involved 28 vehicles, killing four, and injuring dozens. After doing a “deep dive” into the case, Kardashian tagged the Governor of Colorado on social media, in hopes that he “do the right thing.”
Aguilera-Mederos is a Cuban immigrant who has had the support of not only Kardashian but hundreds of truck drivers who are refusing to travel through the state. They have started the online campaign #notruckscolorado and there are videos all over social media of the drivers stopped on the side of the road calling for action. “I know everyone has been posting about Rogel Aguilera-Mederos this week. I took a deep dive into the case to find out what the situation was,” Kardashian wrote. “For those of you who don‘t know about this case, #RogelAguileraMederos is a 26-year-old who was sentenced to 110 years in prison for driving a semi and crashing into parked traffic killing four people. He was not drunk or high on drugs, the semi’s brakes failed.”
Due to Colorado’s mandatory-minimum sentencing laws, prison sentences must be successive in cases that deal with “crimes of violence,” per The Daily Beast. During the sentencing hearing, the judge said he believed Aguilera-Mederos didn’t mean any harm and deserved a lesser sentence but there was nothing he could do due to the laws. Kardashian called for mandatory minimums to end and wrote, “Another shocking and unfair part of this case is that the judge didn’t want to sentence him to such a lengthy sentence. However, because of the mandatory minimums in Colorado, his hands were tied. Mandatory minimums take away judicial discretion and need to end.”
But Kardashian wasn’t done, she called out the prosecutor in the case for making a tone-death Facebook post celebrating the conviction. Jefferson County Deputy District Attorney Kayla Wildeman shared a photo brake shoe trophy thanking her trial partner. “Get yourself a trial partner as great as Trevor Moritzky. He turned a brake shoe from a semi-truck into a memento. What a special gift from a truly special person. I never asked for a new bff at work, let alone one that is old enough to be my father (no offense) but I sure am grateful this trial brought you into my career as both a colleague and a friend! Words will never convey how lucky I am to have gotten the opportunity to learn from you!” she wrote in the cringe-worthy post.
Kardashian shared a screenshot and wrote, “Another shocking part of the case is this post by the prosecutor after his conviction. Four people died in this tragic accident. Rogel has a life sentence for the accident, which will not only destroy his life, but it will also impact his wife and son’s life. And yet, for some reason, the prosecutor thought it would be funny to post a photo of a brake shoe trophy she received from a colleague with a plaque? Makes me so sick.” Then, Kardashian tagged the Governor of Colorado and wrote, “Colorado law really has to be changed and this is so unfair. @GovofCO is a really good person and I know he will do the right thing.” “I pray that Governor Polis, who has been a leader on supporting reforms that increase human dignity in the legal system, will commute his sentence,” she wrote in a follow up tweet.
Aguilera-Mederos is an immigrant from Cuba and like Kardashian, The League of United Latin American Citizens condemned the post, calling for “immediate disciplinary action and a formal apology,” according to ABC 7. An online petition for him to be granted clemency has reached over 4.6 million signatures at the tie of this publication.
