BASTROP COUNTY, Texas — Drugs and fatigue may have been factors in a deadly Texas school bus crash, according to a new report from the day of the incident.
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) released a report Thursday that detailed how the crash happened on March 22 in Bastrop County.
According to the report, Jerry Hernandez crossed his cement pumper truck over the double yellow center strip and it hit a Hays CISD school bus carrying pre-K students from Tom Green Elementary. Hernandez then hit Ryan Wallace's Hyundai Tucson, pushing his vehicle backward before it stopped on the shoulder.
The report states that the bus rolled over before it came to a stop upright. Hernandez's truck continued through a guardrail and into a ditch before hitting a barbed wire fence and landing on its side. Wallace was partially ejected from his car following the crash and was pronounced dead at the scene. Five-year-old Ulises Rodriguez Montoya, who was on the school bus, was also killed in the crash.
Hernandez was charged with criminally negligent homicide in the crash after allegedly admitting to drug use the night before and the morning of the crash. Court documents revealed that Hernandez had used cocaine and that he was driving on just three hours of sleep that day.
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According to the TxDOT report, Hernandez also said he took a 15-minute nap before leaving where he was working just before the crash happened. Fatigue and drug use may have been factors, according to TxDOT, and a toxicology report is still pending.
Court documents also revealed Hernandez's employer, Francisco Martinez, failed to conduct a background check before completing the hiring process. Martinez also said he did not know about Hernandez's previous positive drug charges.
Meanwhile, Hernandez has been declared an "imminent hazard to public safety" and ordered to "immediately cease operating any commercial motor vehicle in interstate or intrastate commerce," according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
On Monday, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) also launched its investigation into the crash.
As of April 5, Hernandez remains booked in jail on a $500,000 bond for the criminally negligent homicide charge. He is not currently facing any additional charges.
There are multiple fundraisers online to help the victims of the crash and their families.
