A man who was driving a semi-truck whose contents killed another driver has been identified as a criminal alien from Mexico.
Ignacio Cruz-Mendoza, 47, was driving a semi-truck in Colorado around 5:00 pm on June 11th when he drove off the edge of the road, causing the truck to roll onto its side and its pipes/angle iron to pour out onto five other vehicles, according to Denver station KMGH.
In one of the vehicles was Scott Miller, a 64-year-old man who’d been en route home from the grocery store when he was killed during the wreck.
Ignacio Cruz-Mendoza, who has been deported or fled the country 16 times in total, charged in deadly Colorado crash that killed 64 year old Scott Miller. pic.twitter.com/xyUReCYpNm
— Nathaniel Francesco (@TradicalNatPop) June 19, 2024
“We had just talked,” his widow, DeAnn Miller, told KMGH. “I had just talked to him probably 10 minutes on the phone before he died. And then I got stuck in the traffic, and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, another accident.’ And how ironic, I got a detour home, and it was my husband that was in that accident.”
Cruz-Mendoza was subsequently arrested on charges of vehicular assault and vehicular homicide. During a court appearance this week, a count of careless driving resulting in death and three counts of careless driving resulting in injury were tagged onto his charges.
More importantly, on Monday immigration authorities with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed that Cruz-Mendoza is a criminal alien who’d been ordered to be removed to Mexico two weeks earlier.
“The agency had been aware of Cruz-Mendoza since an arrest in Jefferson County in April of 2002,” according to KMGH. “Since then, an ICE spokesperson said Cruz-Mendoza had faced multiple removals and returned to Mexico at least 16 times. The latest was on May 29.”
Testifying during Cruz-Mendoza’s court appearance Tuesday, Miller’s wife and daughter, Michelle Tusa, reportedly gave emotional testimony.
“It’s just so hard when somebody’s taken from you out of nowhere,” Tusa said. “He was just young. He was only 64, and I just want everybody to know my dad was fun. He was an awesome dad. He was an awesome grandfather. He left behind a grandson and a granddaughter, and they miss him. We’re all gonna miss him.”
Speaking with KMGH, Tusa said her father was also a truck driver with a history of hauling water in the mountains.
“It was of his utmost concern, the safety of the truck drivers that drive heavy big rigs up in the mountains,” she said. “Since I was a kid, he’s always told me to be careful to drive around trucks, especially in the mountains because it takes an extreme amount of skill to drive equipment like that through mountain roads with steep grades and you just never know who you’re driving next to.”
Moving forward, Tusa and her family plan to pursue justice and awareness.
“I would just like to protect other people on the road because this has been happening too much,” she said. “And if his death is going to mean anything, it’s going to mean that people are more aware and that truckers, as a profession, are more careful.”
Except Cruz-Mendoza wasn’t really a trucker — he was a criminal alien. But the question remains, who was he working for? Reportedly Monique Trucking of California, a company with a history of bad behavior.
“Monique Trucking has five violations on its record over the past two years, according to a review of Department of Transportation records,” local station KUSA reported.
“One of the violations includes ‘insufficient tie downs’ in August 2023. In October and November of 2022, drivers were found to be missing proper operator licenses,” according to the station.
When asked about Miller’s death, the company’s owner, Manrique Agramon, had little to say.
“Well, what can I say?” he remarked. “Poor thing. He died.”
“Cruz-Mendoza is currently being held on a $50,000 cash surety bond. He’s due back in court on July 31,” KMGH noted.
Responding to this story, the public had nothing but criticism for Monique Trucking:
Company that hired him is “Monique Trucking”…should be big fines for them
— lencialoo (@lencialoo) June 18, 2024
So they’re not doing background checks. This company needs to be fined big-time.
— Anya (@opusgonemad) June 17, 2024
When are we going to start tossing employers of illegals into prison? Or at the very least, fining them into bankruptcy? This driver’s employer, Monique Trucking, has a history of hiring illegals.
— Steve (@sl2111) June 18, 2024
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Author: Vivek Saxena
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