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Injured Trooper's Family Seeks More Serious Charges Against Trucker

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The family of an Illinois State Police trooper who was severely injured last year in a crash that also killed a tollway worker has demanded more serious charges against the trucker blamed for the wreck.

On Jan. 27, 2014, Trooper Doug Balder suffered third-degree burns to 15 percent of his body, broken ribs, and bleeding on his brain, after a truck driver who had been working for 37 hours straight crashed his rig into Balder's squad car, an Illinois Tollway maintenance vehicle, and another semi-tractor trailer, while they were stopped along Interstate 88 near Aurora.

Tollway worker Vincent Petrella was killed in the fiery wreck.

Vincent Petrella
Vincent Petrella and his wife, Sandra. (Credit: Facebook)

Balder and Petrealla were trying to remove a stalled 18-wheeler from the tollway when trucker Renato Velasquez plowed into them.

Balder spent three months in a hospital burn unit, and another nine months recuperating from his injuries, but he still isn't back on the job yet.

"He still requires some physical therapy and occupational therapy daily," said his wife, Kimberli. "He's … working to try to be back on full duty, hopefully within the next few months."

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The Balders have been trying to convince DuPage County prosecutors to charge Velasquez with reckless homicide, but so far Velasquez has only been charged with four felony violations of trucking regulations, including driving while fatigued, falsifying truck driving logs, and driving more than 14 consecutive hours.

"We really feel like reckless homicide is warranted, although the state's attorney, we believe, says the act of falling asleep is not a reckless act in the way that the law is written," Kimberli Balder said.

The DuPage County State's Attorney's office said Velasquez is scheduled to go on trial next month.

If convicted of the charges he now faces, Velasquez could be sentenced to a maximum of only three years in prison. A reckless homicide conviction carries a sentence of up to five years in prison.

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