Bench Trial Begins Tuesday For Trucker Accused In Fatal I-88 Tollway Crash

Caption: Illinois State Trooper Doug Balder, with wife Kimberli at his side, speaks at a press conference last month on the one-year anniversary of the fiery crash that nearly took his life and killed tollway worker Vincenzo Petrella. | Credit: Shannon Antinori

The bench trial for the truck driver charged with felony safety violations in the January 2014 crash on I-88 that killed a tollway worker and critically injured a state trooper begins Tuesday in front of DuPage County Judge Robert Kleeman.

Renato Velasquez, 46, of Hanover Park, has been charged with driving a commercial vehicle while fatigued or impaired and falsifying his records.

On Jan. 27, 2014, Balder and tollway worker Vincenzo Petrella had pulled over on I-88 near Eola Road in Aurora to assist the driver of a disabled semi-trailer when another semi crashed into Balder’s vehicle, pushing it into Petrella’s truck. All three vehicles burst into flames.

Petrella, a 39-year-old father of two, died at the scene.

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Balder suffered second- and third-degree burns over much of the left side of his body, a brain injury, 13 broken ribs, facial lacerations and a broken shoulder blade, and spent weeks in a medically induced coma after the crash.

Prosecutors have alleged that Velasquez Prosecutors had been driving and working for 37 hours of the 40 hours prior to the crash.

Last month, on the one-year-anniversary of the crash, Balder, his wife, Kimberli, and Liz Sauter, widow of state trooper James Sauter, who died in a similar crash, called for reckless homicide charges to be pressed upon the truck drivers in both fatal crashes.

The Balders appealed to DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin to push for harsher charges against Velasquez.

Berlin responded that his decision to go with the lesser charges against Velasquez was based on the law and what could be proved in court beyond a reasonable doubt.

Liz Sauter said similar appeals to Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez for harsher charges against the truck driver accused in the fatal I-294 crash that killed her husband were met with a similar response.

Velasquez waived his right to a jury trial earlier this month. His bench trial is expected to last two days.

It is not known if Velasquez will take the stand in his own defense.

If convicted, he faces a one to three year prison term for each charge, or probation.

Reports say that Velasquez served 50 months in a federal prison for dealing cocaine.