Deadly Hays CISD bus crash: Truck driver eligible for parole just months after sentencing
Hays CISD bus crash: Suspect could get parole
Those impacted by the deadly Hays CISD bus crash are speaking out again after learning the driver responsible could soon be released. Jerry Hernandez is eligible for parole later this month, just months after being sentenced to 18 years in prison.
HAYS COUNTY, Texas - Those impacted by the deadly Hays CISD bus crash are speaking out again after learning the driver responsible could soon be released.
Jerry Hernandez is eligible for parole later this month, just months after being sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Cement truck driver sentenced to 18 years after deadly Hays CISD school bus crash
The cement truck driver accused of killing two people in a crash with a Hays CISD school bus has been sentenced to 18 years in prison.
The backstory:
In September 2025, Hernandez was sentenced to 18 years in prison for two counts of manslaughter. Now, just seven months later, people are speaking out after learning Hernandez is eligible for parole later this month.
"It would be a terrible injustice for this person to be paroled so incredibly soon after getting an 18-year sentence," Hays CISD Chief Communication Officer Tim Savoy said.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Deadly Hays CISD bus crash: Truck driver sentenced
The cement truck driver accused of killing two people in a crash with a Hays CISD school bus has been sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Investigators said in March 2024, Hernandez crossed the center line on SH 21, slamming into a school bus carrying 44 students and 11 adults returning from a field trip. The crash killed 5-year-old Ulises Montoya and 33-year-old Ryan Wallace, who was in a car behind the bus.
Court records showed Hernandez admitted to using cocaine the morning of the crash, marijuana the night before, and got just three hours of sleep. Documents also showed he had a history of drug use and a prohibited driving status, something his employer is accused of not looking into before hiring him.
What they're saying:
"Every time you think about this crash, it brings up those same powerful emotions that you felt the very day of the crash, just trauma, pain, anger, because this is a crash that was completely preventable," Savoy said.
Hays CISD leaders said they plan to formally oppose parole.
"We're not recovered yet. None of the victims are recovered. We're not as a community. We still have students and staff members that work in our district that were injured physically and emotionally because they were on that bus. They're not recovered yet, and I know that the families of those who were killed, they'll never recover," Savoy said.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Hays CISD superintendent speaks on crash
Hays CISD released the name of the driver killed in the deadly crash on Friday, March 22. All students were also released from the hospital, but one teacher remains hospitalized.
Attorneys representing victims said early release would only deepen the damage.
"Being eligible for parole doesn't mean he will get parole, and he shouldn’t get parole, and we’re confident that the board is going to deny it because if they don’t, this just compounds the tragedy, and it sends a message to the employers of Texas who employ awful drivers like Mr. Hernandez, that it's okay, not only do you just get a little slap on the wrist civilly, but criminally, you're going to get out early too," Sean Breen, attorney representing an injured teacher, said in a phone call.
"Two years into an 18-year sentence, and we're already here. A court of law looked at what Jerry Hernandez did, the life he took, the children he traumatized, the families he destroyed, and said 18 years. That wasn't arbitrary. That was the system working the way it's supposed to. Granting parole now doesn't just fail these families, it tells every future jury, every future judge, that the sentences they hand down are just a starting point for negotiation. We can't allow that," Jason Feltoon, the attorney representing families of several injured children, said in a statement.
Records show Hernandez’s parole eligibility begins April 19.
The Source: Information from interviews conducted by FOX 7 Austin's Meredith Aldis and previous coverage