Trucker Handed 3-Year Sentence for Fatal I-88 Crash

A Hanover Park trucker was handed a three-year prison sentence on Monday by a DuPage County judge for crashing his semi-trailer into several vehicles on I-88 that killed an Illinois Tollway worker and left an Illinois State Trooper severely injured in January 2014.

Renato Velasquez, 48, was found guilty of one felony count of operating a commercial motor vehicle while in a fatigued state and two felony counts of failure to comply with hours of service requirements after a three-day bench trial before Judge Robert Kleeman.

Velasquez was also convicted of misdemeanor traffic offenses including one count of driving too fast for conditions and one count of failure to yield to emergency vehicles.

Tollway employee Vincent Petrella had pulled “help truck” behind another disabled semi on I-88 near Eola Road on the evening of Jan. 27, 2014. Trooper Douglas Balder also positioned his squad car behind Petrella’s vehicle as they waited for a heavy duty tow truck to pull the disabled semi out of the lane of traffic.

Balder and Petrella had both activated their emergency lights in addition to several flares that had been placed around the disabled semi. Around 9:20 p.m., Velasquez, who was travelling eastbound on I-88, smashed his rig into the parked vehicles, causing all three to burst into flames, prosecutors said.

An investigation later determined that Velasquez had been working for 27 hours prior to the crash.

During the February bench trial, Balder, who lives in Oswego, testified of crawling out of the flames of his burning squad car where he was found “smoldering” at the side of I-88. Petrella died at the scene.

According to prosecutors, Velasquez claimed he never saw the emergency lights and by the time he reached Eola Road, slammed on his brakes in an attempt to avoid hitting the parked vehicles.

The Oswego trooper was placed in medically induced coma for six weeks. Although he has since returned to work, Balder is still under undergoing therapy to recover from his injuries and must wear compression garments on his burned limbs.

“Douglas’s recovery will be longer than this guy’s jail time,” Kimberli Balder said at the time of Velasquez’s guilty verdict. “His physical scars are very much there and he goes to physical therapy several times a week.”

Both Balder and the family of Vincent Petrella have filed a civil suit against the trucker and the Naperville trucking company where he was employed, DND International, Inc.

Following the accident, DND was temporarily shut down by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The trucking company won a court ruling in April 2014 allowing its truckers to return to the road.

“Illinois law imposes rules and regulations on the trucking industry for a reason – to keep the roads safe for all motorists,” DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said in a written statement. “Ignoring these regulations however, can result in tragic consequences, as we saw in this case. Had Mr. Velasquez gotten the proper amount of rest before getting behind the wheel of his truck, Mr. Petrella would be alive today and Trooper Balder would not be facing a life of pain and suffering.”

The Hanover Park trucker has remained free on bond since the crash. His family members have appeared with him at all of his pretrial hearings and during the trial.

Velasquez, who has a prior 2001 drug conviction for delivering a kilo of cocaine, will be required to serve at least 50 percent of his three-year prison term in the Illinois Department of Corrections before he is eligible for parole.

Read Patch’s coverage of the fatal I-88 trucker crash:

• Velasquez Verdict ‘Not A Win,’ Injured Trooper’s Wife Says

• Trucker Guilty of Driving While Fatigued In January 2014 Interstate 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