Man arrested, charged with criminally negligent homicide in Hays school bus crash
Jerry Hernandez, the driver of a concrete truck who admitted to using cocaine hours before causing a March 22 wreck that killed two people, including a child in a Hays school district bus, has been charged with criminally negligent homicide, records show.
Hernandez, 42, had been arrested, Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Deon Cockrell said Friday. Hernandez also had warrants out of Hays County for bond violations on past, unrelated charges of assault/family violence and criminal mischief.
The arrest comes a week after Hernandez veered into oncoming traffic on Texas 21, striking a school bus carrying 44 pre-K students and 11 adults who were returning from a field trip to a Bastrop County zoo. The wreck killed 5-year-old Ulises Rodriguez Montoya, a pre-K student at Tom Green Elementary School in the Hays school district, and 33-year-old Ryan Wallace, a University of Texas doctoral student who was driving a vehicle behind the bus.
Criminally negligent homicide is a state jail felony, punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 and jail time of up to two years.
An affidavit obtained by the American-Statesman on Thursday revealed that Hernandez told investigators he had only gotten three hours of sleep the night before the crash.
Hernandez also said he had smoked marijuana the night before the crash at 10 p.m. and done a "small amount of cocaine" at 1 a.m. on March 22, according to the affidavit, after waking up at 12:30 a.m. to go to work. Hernandez had refused to voluntarily give a blood sample at the scene of the crash.
According to a copy of a probable cause arrest affidavit, Hernandez had previously failed a drug test for marijuana in December 2022 and another for cocaine in April 2023. Hernandez was tested because, in September 2020, his employer had reasonable suspicion that he was on drugs but he refused a test, according to data from the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, a national database that holds information about drug and alcohol violations of drivers with commercial driver's licenses.
Despite these violations and the resulting "prohibited" status of his commercial driver's license, Hernandez was permitted to operate the concrete pump truck in Texas. A search of the state's driver's license system showed he was "eligible," a state trooper wrote in the affidavit.
Federal reporting requirements around clearinghouse violations and what triggers ineligibility may change this fall. Last month, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration proposed changes to require states' licensing agencies to downgrade a driver's commercial license for such violations.
Had those changes been in effect, Hernandez's commercial license would have been downgraded, barring him from driving a pump truck for the purpose of intrastate commerce, the state trooper wrote in the affidavit. Those changes won't take effect until Nov. 18, according to a notice published in the Federal Register.
Francisco Martinez, owner of FJM Concrete Pumping, the company Hernandez was employed by, told investigators that he had not verified the status of Hernandez's commercial license or the driver's history with the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse before employing him, the affidavit said.
"Although Mr. Martinez was unaware of Mr. Hernandez's past drug related issues, Mr. Hernandez should have been aware of his status through the clearinghouse," the affidavit said.
Reached by the Statesman Thursday, Martinez declined to comment on the crash and deferred questions to his attorney, Thomas Fagerberg, who has not responded to inquiries. Neither returned phone calls seeking comment on the affidavit Friday.
The crash happened about 2 p.m. March 22 on Texas 21 near its intersection with Caldwell Road near the border of Bastrop and Caldwell counties. A concrete truck traveling east veered into the westbound lane, where the Hays school bus was driving west. The concrete truck crashed into the bus, which flipped over and landed facing east, according to footage of the crash obtained by the Statesman.
Investigators also confirmed the concrete truck hit a car Wallace was driving behind the school bus.
Investigators said in the affidavit that there were no mechanical problems with the concrete truck.
Initially, Hernandez told investigators that he had not consumed any illicit substances in the week before the crash but did have a history of using marijuana and cocaine. He then refused to voluntarily give a sample of blood when asked, the affidavit said.
Hernandez also told troopers that he had swerved because a driver of another vehicle two car lengths ahead of him had suddenly hit their brakes. However, the affidavit and video evidence indicate there was no other vehicle in front of Hernandez at that length or that had suddenly hit its brakes.
During an interview with DPS troopers, Hernandez said he was on his way home at the time of the crash and that prior to leaving the job site, he took a 15-minute nap. The affidavit also noted that Hernandez kept nodding off during his interview with DPS troopers.
The affidavit stated that Hernandez seemed to be "unaware of the magnitude of the crash he was involved in and never mentioned striking a school bus."
"As a result of Mr. Hernandez's actions, Ulises Rodriguez Montoya and Ryan Wallace were killed," the affidavit said.
In response to the crash, the Hays community has started fundraisers and rushed to support the families of the people involved in the crash.
Community members have created GoFundMe pages to raise money for Ulises’ family and Ryan's family, for a teacher with serious injuries and for all the families.
This is a developing story. Check back for more updates.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Man charged with criminally negligent homicide in Hays CISD bus crash
