NEWARK, Ohio (WCMH) – A man has been arrested months after driving a semi-truck that started a chain reaction crash on Interstate 70 that resulted in six people being killed, including three high school students.
Jacob McDonald, 61, has been arrested and charged after driving a Freightliner semi-truck on Nov. 14 that began the fatal chain reaction crash on I-70, according to the Licking County Prosecutor's Office and court documents. He faces 26 charges which include six for vehicular homicide, nine for vehicular assault, and 11 for misdemeanor assault.
McDonald is scheduled to be arraigned in Licking County court on July 30 at 8:30 a.m.
The semi-truck was seen in dash camera footage driving closely in traffic and failing to slow down, hitting another vehicle before hitting a charter bus that caught fire after the collision.
Inside the bus were students and chaperones from Tuscarawas Valley Middle-High School in northeast Ohio. Six people — students John W. Mosley, 18, of Mineral City; Jeffery D. Worrell, 18, of Bolivar, and Katelyn N. Owens, 15, of Mineral City, and adults Dave Kennat, 56, of Navarre; Kristy Gaynor, 39, of Zoar, and Shannon Wigfield, 45, of Bolivar — were killed in the crash.
McDonald was tested at the scene after the crash for impairment but none was found. At least five other vehicles were involved in the chain reaction as the semi-truck rear-ended a Nissan, which hit the bus, then a Toyota and finally a Volvo that were all driving west on I-70.
