Trucker Guilty of Driving While Fatigued In January 2014 Interstate Crash

Caption: Renato Velasquez, 46, of Hanover Park

A DuPage County judge found a Hanover Park trucker guilty on felony charges and misdemeanor traffic offenses in the January 2014 fatal I-88 crash that caused the death of an Illinois tollway employee and critically injured a state trooper.

Renato Velasquez, 46, was found guilty one felony count of operating a commercial truck in a fatigued state, and two felony counts of failure to comply with hours of service requirements.

The Hanover Park man was also found guilty on misdemeanor traffic charges, including failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident and failure to yield to an emergency vehicle.

Felony charges of falsifying records were dismissed because prosecutors “could not prove that the forgeries were committed in Illinois,” Judge Kleeman said.

The convictions came Thursday afternoon after a two-day bench trial at the DuPage County Courthouse in Wheaton.

On Jan. 27, 2014, tollway employee Vincent Petrella positioned his help truck behind a disabled semi-trailer in the eastbound lane of I-88 near Eola Road in Aurora. Trooper Douglas Balder had arrived earlier and had also positioned his squad car behind Petrella’s vehicle. Prosecutors said both vehicles had activated their emergency lights, and a tow truck that had arrived on the scene to help remove the disabled semi-trailer from the traffic lane had activated its lights.

Petrella had also placed flares around the scene and was sitting inside his help truck with the driver of the disabled semi. Balder had also returned to his squad car when at 9:20 p.m., Velasquez’s 2004 Freightliner semi-trailer slammed into Balder’s squad car and Petrella’s truck, causing both vehicles to burst into flames. Petrella died at the scene.

During the two-day bench trial, prosecutors presented testimony from a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration investigator, and an FBI special agent specializing in cellular phone tracking.

Also played were portions of a videotaped interview, in which Velasquez admitting to Illinois State Police investigators that he didn’t remember anything between Farnsworth Road and Eola Road until the moment of the crash. Prosecutors alleged that Velasquez had fallen asleep behind the wheel of his rig because he had been driving for 20 hours or more in violation of federal transport rules.

Velasquez also told the troopers in the video that he did not see the emergency lights of the trooper’s squad car and the tollway vehicle that had stopped to assist the disabled semi.

The Hanover Park trucker had started out the evening of Jan. 26, 2014 for Elkhorn, NE, with a load of steel cable. He had turned around the next morning on Jan. 27, 2014 and picked up another load of steel cable in Cedar Rapids, IA, before heading back to the Chicago area.

During that period Velasquez had what amounted to about fours of sleep in a 24-hour period.

“It’s pretty conclusive that the defendant was driving straight through due the number of phone conversations in the early morning hours [of Jan. 27, 2014],” the judge said before rendering his verdict. “It’s a reasonable inference that he was awake at that time in Iowa and Nebraska.”

DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said that Velasquez followed the federal commercial carrier rules by getting the proper amount of rest the crash never would have happened.

“Simply put, Mr. Velasquez’s decision to get behind the wheel of his truck while fatigued cost Vincent Petrella his life and severely injured Trooper Balder,” Berlin said in a written statement. “Had Mr. Velasquez gotten the proper amount of rest before driving, Mr. Petrella would be alive today and Trooper Balder would not be looking at a life of pain and suffering.”

Velasquez was allowed to remain out on bond until his presentencing hearing on March 23. He faces up a maximum jail sentence of three years in the Illinois Department of Corrections or probation.

Read more Patch coverage of the trucker crash:

• Second Day of Trucker Trial Includes Cellular Tower Analysis, Interrogation Video

• Injured Trooper Recalls ‘Waking Up Burning Alive’ In Trucker Crash Trial
• Bench Trial Begins Tuesday For Trucker Accused In Fatal I-88 Tollway Crash
• State Trooper Critically Injured in Fatal Accident is Oswego Resident
• 1 Killed, Trooper Injured in Fiery Crash on I-88
• Semi Driver Charged in I-88 Crash That Killed Tollway Worker, Critically Injured State Trooper