Last week's tragic collision between a concrete truck and a school bus has taken a grim turn as court documents reveal the driver of the truck admitted to drug use before the fatal incident. According to KEYE, Jerry Hernandez, 42, confessed to consuming cocaine on the morning of the crash after sleeping for only three hours.
The accident, occurring on State Highway 21 in Bastrop County, resulted in the deaths of 5-year-old Ulises Rodriguez Montoya and 33-year-old Ryan Wallace. Emerging reports obtained by Action News 5 further detail how Hernandez, lacking proper sleep, also smoked marijuana the night before his shift. The concrete pump truck he was driving careened across the double yellow line and caused the school bus, carrying over 40 pre-K students from a zoo field trip, to swerve and roll.
During post-crash investigations, a crash/accident investigator and former Fort Worth Police Officer, Lee Jackson, examined the dashcam footage released by the district. In a statement obtained by KEYE, Jackson observed that "Normally what you would see at this point, is the truck driver in complete panic mode; I don't see that here which leads me to believe that he's he's drifted over the side of the road and he's unaware of it." He highlighted the worrisome nature of Hernandez's admitted drug use and short sleep, and the impact it likely had on his reaction time and awareness.
Investigators are now piecing together what led to the collision, relying on crucial crash data from the engines of the cement pump truck and the school bus. With witness statements and the absence of video evidence to support Hernandez's claim that a braked vehicle made him swerve, the tragic circumstances appear to be adding up to a dire reckoning for the driver. Hernandez had a prior record of driving without a license in 2006, according to Travis County court documents. At this point, criminal charges have yet to be filed as the investigation into the crash continues.
