BASTROP, Texas – A Bastrop County grand jury on Tuesday indicted a concrete truck driver in connection with a crash involving a Hays CISD bus that left two people dead.
Jerry Hernandez, 42, was indicted on two counts of manslaughter, a second-degree felony, and two counts of criminal negligent homicide, a state jail felony.
The crash happened on March 22 on State Highway 21 in western Bastrop County. According an arrest affidavit, Hernandez told DPS troopers he smoked marijuana and used cocaine and only had about three hours sleep before the crash.
The affidavit also states that his employer, FJM Concrete, failed to look up his drug test record and properly vet him when they hired him.
Records from the federal Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, which keeps data on commercial driver’s license (CDL) holders, showed that Hernandez refused a reasonable suspicion test in September 2020, the affidavit states. The test should have warranted that he be referred to a substance abuse professional for evaluation, KTBC reported.
“He should have been removed from performing safety-sensitive functions at this point by the company he was driving for at that time,” investigators said.
In follow-up tests, Hernandez tested positive for marijuana in 2022 and for cocaine in 2023, resulting in a prohibited license.
However, Hernandez’s CDL was still eligible in Texas due to a loophole.
“... State driver’s licensing agencies are not required to downgrade CDL statuses until 11/18/2024 according to changes in the Federal Register,” the affidavit states.
FJM Concrete, did not verify the status of his CDL through the Clearinghouse, the affidavit states.
The affidavit states that the company owner, Francisco Martinez, “should have been aware of his status through the Clearinghouse.” On Monday, Martinez was charged in a separate case for employing an unlicensed driver, KXAN reported.
Ulises Rodriguez Montoya, 5, was riding in the bus and died in the crash. A Dodge Charger struck the back of the bus, killing UT student Ryan Wallace, of Bastrop, according to media reports.
The bus was carrying 44 students and 11 adults at the time of the crash.
Hays CISD Superintendent Eric Wright said a total of 51 people were injured, including the bus driver. According to the Associated Press, four people critically injured were airlifted from the crash site and several others were transported by ambulance. All students have since been released from hospitals. The district said an early childhood education teacher has the most serious injuries and “will take time to recover.”
The district called the bus driver a hero.
“We will be forever indebted to her, and the other adults on the bus, who, though injured, placed the children above themselves and their own well-being. Dr. Wright said today of the bus driver and the other adults that, ‘their actions saved lives,’” the release stated.
The bus didn’t have seatbelts because it was a 2011 model, Tim Savoy, a Hays school district spokesperson, told the newspaper. New buses have been fitted with belts since 2017, he said.