Truck driver indicted for killing people in bus crash.

Texas Grand Jury Indicts Truck Driver in Crash that Killed Student and Driver

A Bastrop County grand jury indicted concrete truck driver Jerry Hernandez on two counts each of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. Five-year-old Ulises Montoya Rodriguez and 33-year-old Ryan Wallace died as a result of the crash. Hernandez, who was sleep-deprived and under the influence, veered into a school bus and a car, sparking outrage and civil lawsuits.

A Bastrop County grand jury indicted concrete truck driver Jerry Hernandez, 43, on Tuesday for his involvement in a fatal crash with a school bus that resulted in the deaths of a 5-year-old boy and another driver. The grand jury handed down two counts of manslaughter and two counts of criminally negligent homicide, District Attorney Bryan Goertz confirmed.

“This indictment sends a strong message. The grand jury recognized the reckless behavior that led to this tragic and preventable crash,” said an impacted family’s attorney, Edit Gavrieli-Futbol, in a statement to the Austin American-Statesman.

On March 22, Hernandez, an employee of FJM Concrete Pumping LLC, veered his concrete pump truck into a Hays school district bus carrying 44 pre-kindergarten students and 12 adults, including 5-year-old student Ulises Montoya Rodriguez. Hernandez also crashed into a car driven by 33-year-old Ryan Wallace, who was directly behind the bus. Both Rodriguez and Wallace died in the incident.

At the time of the crash, Hernandez had only three hours of sleep and had taken a short nap in his truck while on the job. Per the arrest affidavit, Hernandez admitted to investigators that he had smoked marijuana and consumed cocaine in the hours before the crash. Hernandez remains in Bastrop County Jail, and the victims' families have initiated civil lawsuits against him and his employer, Francisco Martinez.