Colorado mother advocates for changes in law ahead of sentencing for driver who hit, killed son
A Colorado mother is speaking out in the hope she will affect change to state law that would increase penalties for careless driving.
Thirteen-year-old Alex Mackiewicz was hit and killed on the morning of March 6 after a driver ran a red light. In late October, the driver, Ruben Morones, pleaded guilty to careless driving resulting in death. His sentencing is scheduled to take place next year.
Court records indicate Morones has past convictions for driving while impaired and other driving infractions. Witnesses told CBS Colorado he was driving a Sherwin Williams van at the time of the crash.
A clock in Victoria Cegielski's home is frozen at 6:48 a.m. -- the time her son, Alex, was killed.
"He was adventurous. He was hungry for this life," Cegielski said. "He was very, very happy."
In many ways, Cegielski is also stuck on that March morning.
"He said 'bye, mom,' and he was standing in the door frame to my bedroom, and I was like, 'Eat before you leave,' and he said, 'No, I'll be OK,' and then he left," Cegielski recalled.
Soon after the 13-year-old left on his one-wheel electric skateboard to Mountain Ridge Middle School, Cegielski got an alert that he had been marked absent. She quickly called the school and made her way to his phone's location -- the intersection of Highlands Ranch Parkway and Venneford Ranch Road, which was less than a half mile form the family's home.
"I keep going while being on the phone to the crossroad, and I see lots of cars and police," Cegielski said.
A deputy told her there had been a car crash involving a pedestrian.
"My heart sunk, and I said, 'Tell me it was not involving a kid on a one-wheel,' and by reaction on her face, I realized that it was him," Cegielski explained.
Investigators say Alex was killed instantly when a van driven by Morones ran a red light and hit him while he was in the crosswalk. Morones stayed on scene and was later arrested.
"This box is filled with letters like this," Cegielski said, entering her late son's room -- full of cards, stuffed animals, letters and signs.
Alex's loss was felt by hundreds in his school and community.
"So many notes. I was reading some of them, then I stopped because it was just so much of me," Cegielski said.
Shortly after burying her son, Cegielski's grief became overwhelming.
"I had to check into the mental hospital," Cegielski said.
When she came home, she found a new purpose.
"I wrote an email to Gov. Jared Polis with concerns about the current state of law in Colorado," Cegielski said.
Last month, Morones pleaded guilty to careless driving resulting in death. According to the DA's office, charges of "disregarding a traffic signal" and "careless driving resulting in injury" were dismissed as part of the plea agreement. None of the charges, including the one Morones pleaded guilty to, are felonies, so there is no possibility of prison time, only jail time.
The maximum sentence the law allows for the careless driving resulting in death charge is up to one year in jail.
"It's not fair that an innocent person got death, and the guilty one is going to have a slap on the wrist," Cegielski said.
Cegielski is working with lawmakers, hoping to increase penalties under state law and urging people to drive carefully in Alex's memory.
"Somebody's life depends on it. Drive like it's your child crossing the street," Cegielski said.
Morones will be sentenced on Jan. 7, 2025. Cegielski says she will be there urging that full one-year sentence.
Cegielski qill also be at an event in Parker on Sunday, Nov. 17, for World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. She and others who have lost loved ones will meet from 1 to 2 p.m. at O'Brien Park in Parker, where they will memorialize victims and call on local government to take action.
