Chris Vanderveen (yep…me) Profile picture
Feb 3, 2022 13 tweets 6 min read Read on X
Let's talk about a story you might think you know a lot about...

yet you probably don't know this.

THREAD

In 2019, a semi going 85 mph and loaded with lumber collided with car after car after car on I-70.

The driver said he lost his brakes. You know all that.

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#9news Image
You also likely know that four people died that day.

At least ten others were injured.

The crash happened April 25, 2019, on I-70 near Colorado Mills.

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Last month, @GovofCO got involved when he reduced a 110 year prison sentence to 10 years for the driver of the truck

The 110 year sentence for Rogel Aguilera-Mederos became the subject of a national outcry re: harsh sentences

Rogel, for his part, apologized at sentencing.

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And yet... little has been said about the company that hired Aguilera-Mederos.

His CDL was less than a year old.

And appears to have little, if any, experience driving in mountainous terrain.

Here he is nearly running another truck off the road minutes before crash

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Turns out, the company that hired Aguilera-Mederos was fined, after the crash, $10K by US Dept. of Transportation

why?

Well, in part, it "did not ensure this entry-level driver received required training prior to operating"

It also didn't background him well

(see below)
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Castellano 03 Trucking wasn't much of a trucking company.

It owned one truck (the one that crashed)

It was also based out of the home of a Houston woman named Yaimy Galan Segura.

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(google pic) Image
We now also know this... thanks to a 2019 deposition Yaimy Segura had with a Texas attorney

Much of what Segura did to learn how to start a trucking company came via the internet after talking to a neighbor.

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"Did you consult any professionals?"

"No"

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When she was asked why Aguilera-Mederos was even on I-70 that day...

she said he shouldn't have been driving that route

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Earlier that day, he arrived in Saratoga, Wyoming, via I-80.

He picked up lumber and could have gone back the same way (relatively flat)

Instead he went south.

Here he is in Granby. Tailgating another driver.

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Why did he go this way?

During an interview with investigators, he said he was looking for cheaper gas on I-70.

Again, the owner of the company never knew he went this route.

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Bill Bailey was 67. His wife, Gage Evans, and brother, Duane Bailey, feel defeated by the system that allowed a one-person operation to get insured... use an inexperienced driver... and then get hired to do a job by a broker that didn't know much about who they were hiring.

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Prosecutors say Aguilera-Mederos overused his brakes, underused downshifting, and caused his brakes to fail that day.

The company that hired him dissolved after the crash.

There is MUCH more to this story

We'll start to tell it tonight @9NEWS at 9 and 10. Image

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More from @chrisvanderveen

Dec 19, 2024
Thousands of times every year, for many years, the largest provider of health care in Colorado has elected to do this.

Send process servers to the doors of their patients in search of money.

Money @UCHealth says its owed.

BUT... there seems to be a problem

A 🧵 Image
Let's start with the basics.

UCHealth is a MAJOR provider of care. It cares for millions every year.

So, yes, it is suing a small percentage of its patients for what it says are unpaid medical bills.

But... even a small lawsuit can be a BIG problem for its patients.

2/ Image
UCHealth has long insisted its litigation practices aren't unusual.

"Our practices are pretty consistent with other systems across Colorado and across the country" their Chief Legal Officer told me in January

But... are they???

3/ Image
Read 16 tweets
Oct 11, 2024
You're going to notice a giant mug shot on the stage with the former President today.

I want to talk a little about who that is... Mostly because you're going to see it a lot today

Here he is with @RepBoebert

A quick THREAD

1/ Image
His name is Jose Miguel Reyes-Perez

Earier this year, Lakewood Police arrested him on a felony menacing/vehicle theft case

A tow truck driver said Perez "pointed the rifle" at him.

Police believe he and another were trying to steal a motorcycle, according to arrest report

2/ Image
Aurora Police arrested him on an outstanding warrant on May 22.

That warrant was from JeffCo. He'd been released on a $5000 PR bond, acc to court records, in Feb.

Court records show he was supposed to be arragined in Jefferson County but failed to appear on August 5.

3/
Read 5 tweets
Aug 15, 2024
Ok. Someone much smarter than me is gonna have to answer this for me.

But I’m super duper curious about something with these negotiations.

Mostly about how these reductions in list prices compare with the typical rebates/discounts

Let’s start with the basics (below)

1/
The one thing you have to realize in the ridiculous and messy world of the US health care system is that no one typically pays the list price for anything.

Not for ER visits. Not for CTs. And not for rx drugs.

The latter is a mess. And one that still confuses me…but…

2/
Earlier this year the Commonwealth Fund did a study on the 10 drugs Medicare (the govt) will now “negotiate” prices on.

It’s a remarkably nerdy read. But one that’s important.

3/

commonwealthfund.org/publications/2…
Read 10 tweets
Jun 13, 2024
BIG NEWS

Following joint investigation by @9news and @ColoradoSun... @GovofCO signs bill to prohibit hospitals from suing patients under someone else's name

Here is our original investigation

We found UCHealth had quietly sued patients for years

🧵
1/
9news.com/article/news/i…
Starting in 2020, UCHealth largely stopped suing patients under its own name in Colorado courts

Why? We still can't say why. UCHealth won't say

But we know right around that time, other hospital systems were under intense public scrutiny for their litigation practices

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Last year, when UCHealth wanted Lorena Sanchez to pay more than 24K for a CT scan/ER visit... it elected to sue her... but not under its own name.

Instead, it let Credit Service Company do the work for them.

Which, in turn, hid from the public UCHealth's involvement

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Read 9 tweets
Apr 13, 2024
As Colorado becomes just the second state in the country to ban use of the term “excited delirium” on police and autopsy reports… following our yearlong investigation…

I want to take a moment to explain the motivation behind our work.

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9news.com/article/news/i…
Years ago, we started examining prone restraint deaths…

Deaths that followed prolonged prone restraint.

We spent years on it and found a lot of cases that were barely covered by local media.

Why? More on that in a moment.

Here’s link:

2/

9news.com/article/news/i…
While looking into deaths that happened during or shortly after prolonged prone restraint, we found many were explained not by use of force but by something known as “excited delirium”

Families often had to google the term after being told that’s why their loved one died.

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Read 14 tweets
Sep 15, 2023
A THREAD

As the trial of two officers charged in the death of #ElijahMcClain gets underway...

...I would urge you to pay close attention to the term "EXCITED DELIRIUM"

Yes, I've reported on it extensively, but it also plays a BIG role in this death

Let me explain...

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You don't need to know much about EXCITED DELIRIUM to know it played a significant role in his death.

How can I say that? Because not long after officers took McClain to the ground, the idea of it materialized.

Right after giving ketamine, a fire paramedic said this:

2/
This is the full sentence:

"No pain compliance"

"Still fighting"

"Diaphoretic" (Sweating)

These are all classic "symptoms" of "excited delirium" (A VERY controversial condition that many call nonsense)

The belief McClain had it is why he received ketamine (a sedative)

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Read 11 tweets

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