Reports: Concrete truck driver admitted using cocaine the morning of deadly Texas school bus crash
BASTROP, Texas (Gray News) - Newly emerging reports say the driver of a concrete truck that veered into the path of an oncoming school bus full of pre-K students in Texas, resulting in a crash that killed two people, admitted he only got three hours of sleep the night before and used cocaine just hours before the crash.
The crash happened on March 22. Dashcam video released Thursday by the school district shows the truck, whose driver was identified as 42-year-old Jerry Hernandez in court documents obtained by KEYE, crossing the double yellow lines into the path of the bus. The bus swerved to miss the truck, causing it to skid and roll.
The bus was carrying more than 40 pre-K students back to school from a field trip to the zoo. Ulises Rodriguez Montoya, 5, who was on the bus and 33-year-old Ryan Wallace, the driver of another vehicle, were killed.
The court documents state Hernandez was taken to a hospital where he told a state trooper he had smoked marijuana about 10 p.m. the night before. He then slept for about three hours, woke up for work, and consumed cocaine around 1 a.m.
Troopers testified in the documents that there was enough evidence to pursue criminal charges against Hernandez.
The crash remains under investigation.
Copyright 2024 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
