Man killed while changing tire on I-15 was working to get family to US from Venezuela, brother says
Apr 8, 2024, 5:11 PM | Updated: 6:57 pm
PLEASANT GROVE – The family of a Pleasant Grove man killed while changing a tire on Interstate 15 last week says the loss has left a big void in their lives.
Alberto Marcano’s brother, Jhonny Marcano, said his brother was giving two co-workers a ride to the airport when he was hit by a car on Thursday morning. UHP has said he was pulled over in the shoulder, with a safety vest on, changing a tire.
“I never had a chance to tell him I love you or how proud I am because he was doing everything right,” Jhonny Marcano said. “It’s a big void. I know that he might be in a better place now, but he was just 43 years old.”
Jhonny Marcano speaking about this brother’s death. (KSL TV)
Jhonny Marcano said that his brother was an immigrant from Venezuela. He noted that Alberto Marcano was doing everything he could to make money to get his family here.
“From the moment he stepped foot in the US, he was doing everything right. The way he applied for a work permit. He started to get his driver’s license, got a job, a couple of jobs, helping people, serving others,” Jhonny Marcano said.
He said Alberto Marcano was in Utah through the Humanitarian parole program. He was his brother’s sponsor. The program allows people from countries like Venezuela to get expedited Visas because of conditions there.
Jhonny Marcano said his brother leaves behind a wife and four children, and the majority of his family is in Venezuela, waiting for US approval to come.
A family photo of Alberto Marcano. (Courtesy: Jhonny Marcano)
When KSL TV met with Jhonny Marcano, he had just returned from the medical examiner’s office and returned Alberto Marcano’s backpack. Inside was his uneaten lunch, immigration documents, tax records, his newly obtained certificate of baptism in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and a page of photos of his family with a handwritten note from his family.
“Every time he would go anywhere. He will bring that (backpack) with him. I made fun of him,” Jhonny Marcano said.
Alberto Marcano’s Church membership that was found in his backpack. (KSL TV)
He said the contents of that backpack were evidence of what Alberto Marcano valued, and the life he was working to create.
“I just want people to know that, you know, he’s not a nobody. I want his name to be known. That his life mattered,” Jhonny Marcano said.
Jhonny Marcano said he has mixed feelings about the person who hit his brother and what should happen to the driver. He said that he was sure that person was hurting, too.
Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Cameron Roden confirmed Alberto Marcano’s identity Monday, saying he was from Pleasant Grove. UHP also said that potential charges may be coming for the driver accused of hitting Alberto Marcano.
