Truck driver sentenced to 11 years in prison for crash that killed family of five on I-25 – Longmont Times-Call

A Weld County judge sentenced a truck driver to more than a decade in prison Friday afternoon for causing a deadly crash that killed a family of five on Interstate 25 near Mead in 2022.

Jesus Puebla, 28, was sentenced to 11 years in the Colorado Department of Correction Friday, according to a release from the Weld County District Attorney’s Office.

A jury convicted Puebla in April on all counts, including five counts of vehicular homicide and vehicular assault, careless driving and reckless driving. Additionally, the jury also convicted Puebla of a commercial vehicle safety violation and also found him guilty of not having a commercial driver’s license, according to the release.

Weld Deputy District Attorneys Yvette Guthrie and Erin Vargas Gutierrez prosecuted this case.

“These families have had to deal with the trauma and this devastating loss every single day,” Guthrie said in a statement. “Absolutely nothing that this defendant did the day of this tragic crash was an accident. This wasn’t road rage; this was traffic terrorism.

“Five amazing lives were taken on June 13 that changed everyone’s life that day,” the victims’ daughter said in the release. “My mom and dad were the best parents any child could wish for. I’ll never get another day with them. I wish there was an opportunity that heaven could have visiting hours because I miss them every day.”

The fatal crash happened on June 13, 2022, on I-25 near Colo. 66 in Weld County.

According to the release, Puebla was driving a box truck when he slammed into a vehicle, killing a family of five who was traveling back home to Wyoming. Puebla also crashed into another vehicle during the incident, severely injuring the driver.