The driver of a tractor-trailer who was arrested on suspicion of vehicular homicide and assault after last week’s fatal crash on U.S. 285 was charged instead with careless driving, according to court records.
Ignacio Cruz Mendoza, a 47-year-old from Mexico, was charged with one count of careless driving resulting in death and three counts of careless driving resulting in injury, according to court records.
While vehicular homicide — otherwise known as reckless driving resulting in death — is a felony charge and can bring a prison sentence of up to 12 years, careless driving resulting in death has a maximum sentence of one year under Colorado law and is a misdemeanor charge. Vehicular assault — also a felony — can carry a sentence of up to six years per count.
Mendoza is a Mexican citizen who is in the United States illegally and who was removed from or left the country voluntarily 16 times since 2002, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Monday.
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He was arrested on June 11 on suspicion of vehicular homicide and vehicular assault in connection with the fatal six-vehicle crash on U.S. 285 that killed 64-year-old Scott Miller and seriously injured another driver, according to the arrest affidavit. No updates on the injured driver’s condition were available Tuesday morning.
Mendoza told police he lost his brakes before the crash, but troopers noted skip skid marks on the road before the crash site, indicating the tractor-trailer’s brakes were “partially functional,” the affidavit stated.
A tag on the tractor-trailer showed the last inspection was in 2020, CSP troopers wrote in the affidavit. Inspections should occur annually.
Mendoza remains in Jefferson County Jail on a $50,000 bail, and his next hearing is set for July 31.
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