DENVER — Colorado has a new law increasing the penalties for truckers who don't have a commercial drivers license. It's now a misdemeanor instead of a traffic infraction.
A truck driver was sentenced to more than a decade in prison after a crash killed five members of a family in Weld County in 2022. Jesus Puebla's commercial drivers license was expired.
A trucker who caused a crash that killed a man on Highway 285 last week didn't have a CDL, investigators said.
Punishment may not have stopped those crashes but the new law aims to send a preemptive message.
Ignacio Cruz-Mendoza was carrying a load of pipes when he went off the edge of Highway 285. The crash killed 64-year-old Scott Miller and hurt three other people. Cruz-Mendoza was formally charged with three misdemeanors for the crash. The district attorney's office said they could file more charges after the Colorado State Patrol finishes their investigation.
"My husband would be alive today if there was more accountability on the truckers on the road and there isn't," said Scott Miller's wife, Deann Miller.
Deann Miller said she wants changes to the trucking industry because this story, she says, is told too often in Colorado.
The company Cruz-Mendoza worked for, Monique Trucking, has a history of violations. Before this crash, inspectors found their drivers didn't have the proper licenses at least twice. Investigators had arrested Cruz-Mendoza for not having a commercial driver's license.
In Weld County on Friday, Puebla learned his fate for the deadly June 2022 crash. He was driving with an expired CDL. His company, Caminantes Trucking, also had a history of letting drivers on the road without proper licenses.
"We need to make sure we prevent this from happening again," said Greg Fulton, president of the Colorado Motor Carriers Association. "And the way you do this is – look don't give multiple chances."
His organization supported a bill that passed this session which now makes it a misdemeanor, not a traffic offense, for driving without a CDL. Fulton said state laws can only do so much.
"It really falls within the federal government in terms of probably removing their ability to operate," said Fulton.
Monique Trucking was allowed to keep its trucks on the road. Their driver, Cruz-Mendoza, was also in the U.S without proper documentation.
RELATED: Semi driver arrested in fatal Highway 285 crash had been removed from US multiple times, ICE says
Scott Miller's family isn't focusing on the driver's immigration status. The bigger issue to them is oversight.
"I don't have anything against that, but I want these people to not being doing jobs they shouldn't be doing," Deann Miller said.
She said she felt there were too many warning signs before her husband was killed.
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