The Texas Department of Public Safety has released a harrowing report on the Bastrop County school bus crash that claimed two lives and left dozens injured last month. A detailed diagram from the report paints a tragic picture of the March 22 collision involving a Hays CISD school bus and a concrete pump truck on State Highway 21. The concrete truck, operated by 42-year-old Jerry Hernandez, crossed over double yellow lines directly into the bus's path.
The collision occurred as Hernandez's truck swerved to suddenly cross into oncoming traffic, striking the school bus head-on, according to FOX San Antonio. The bus, in a desperate attempt to avoid, tried swerving out of the way but was hit, causing it to spin counterclockwise, roll over, and finally come to a stop upright. Five-year-old Ulises Rodriguez Montoya was among those killed in the accident.
"It's just a worst-case scenario," noted Lee Jackson, a crash investigator not involved in the case, in a statement to FOX San Antonio. "One second clicks off the clock and they're 180 feet closer. So things are happening very, very quickly at this point."
Tragically, the bus was not the final victim of the rampage. After hitting the bus, the concrete truck continued to perilously plow down the wrong lane, slamming into a Hyundai Tuscon driven by 33-year-old Ryan Wallace. Wallace’s vehicle was pushed to the westbound shoulder where he succumbed to his injuries on the scene, as reported by KATV.
"Somewhere there's a family that’s now incomplete," Jackson lamented to FOX San Antonio. "And it just didn't have to happen."
