NTSB opens investigation into fatal Hays CISD bus crash
BASTROP COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it has opened an incident investigation Monday into the March 22 Hays CISD school bus crash where two people were killed and several others were injured.
The investigation would assist the Texas Department of Public Safety, which is the lead agency for the crash.
“This is different from a full investigation—we will not be sending a team or issuing any reports, findings or conclusions. We will be gathering information from the Texas Department of Public Safety and other local authorities which could be referenced in other school bus crash investigations we are currently conducting,” an NTSB spokesperson said.
On March 22, a Hays CISD school bus carrying Tom Green Elementary pre-K students was involved in a serious crash with a concrete pump truck.
The bus, which did not have seatbelts, rolled onto its side, and one student inside died. That student was later identified as 5-year-old Ulises Rodriguez Montoya.
The other person killed was identified as 33-year-old Ryan Wallace, whose vehicle was traveling behind the bus at the time of the incident.
On March 28, Hays CISD released the video of the crash, which showed the bus traveling on State Highway 21 before a truck traveling in the opposite direction veered into the bus’ lane, hitting it, and causing the bus to roll.
The driver of the concrete pump truck was arrested in Bastrop County, and according to court documents, admitted to smoking marijuana and consuming cocaine within 24 hours of the crash. Jerry Hernandez, 43, was charged with criminally negligent homicide, a state jail felony punishable by up to two years in state jail.
Transportation authorities said Hernandez was prohibited from driving a commercial vehicle because of multiple failed drug tests, and they have disqualified him from further commercial driving, according to an Imminent Hazard Disqualification order issued to Hernandez.
David Barer and Brianna Hollis contributed to this story.