PUEBLO COUNTY, Colo. — The family of the truck driver killed when a train derailed over Interstate 25 Sunday said he had beat cancer and had recently discovered a love of trucking.
Lafollette Henderson leaves behind six children, who are all wondering how they could lose their dad to such a freak accident.
Federal investigators believe a broken rail caused the train to leave the tracks. Thirty train cars spilled over, with tons of coal.
"If he maybe would have waited five more minutes. Maybe if he slept 10 more minutes," Henderson's daughter Triana James said.
James and her family are haunted by what-ifs. They are left wondering whether a different choice could have saved their father's life.
"For us we are just so shocked that out of everybody that went under that bridge, him," she said.
Henderson was driving on I-25 in his semi-truck Sunday afternoon. The second he went under the bridge, the BNSF train derailed.
"I used to call in and check on him when there was an accident, and there is no calling to check on him for this one," she said.
Investigators think the broken rail preceded the derailment and the bridge collapse happened after the train derailed. They'll continue to investigate why the rail was broken and why warning systems didn't alert the crew to the condition of the track, the National Transportation Safety Board said.
Instead of focusing on why her dad died, James is concentrating on how her dad lived.
"He is a very dedicated man, and when he is friends with someone he loves them endlessly," she said. "I always felt like he was the smartest person in the room."
Henderson recently beat cancer, and truck driving became a passion. He started the profession about three years ago.
"He loved truck driving so much. It was such a joy when he got his license. I remember when he called me – he said boogie. I got my license. I did it. I am going on the road," she said.
James said her daughter gave Henderson a stuffed bear to travel with. They called it his safety bear.
Of all the cars that drove under that bridge, the timing of this crash feels unfair.
"I cannot get past just the fact this rate of speed he is going and the time it decided to happen and when it happened," James said.
James said her sister had a baby on Oct. 11. James' birthday was on Oct. 13. The crash happened two days later.
