Texas school bus crash: Cement truck driver reaches plea deal
Suspect in deadly school bus crash gets plea deal
A cement truck driver involved in a deadly crash with a Hays CISD school bus in March 2024 has reached a plea deal. This comes as he still faces several civil lawsuits from people injured in the crash
BASTROP COUNTY, Texas - A cement truck driver involved in a deadly crash with a Hays CISD school bus in March 2024 has reached a plea agreement.
Jerry Hernandez was charged with two counts of manslaughter and two counts of criminally negligent homicide.
What happened?
School bus crash: Truck driver to be indicted
The cement truck driver involved in a deadly crash with a Hays CISD school bus could be formally indicted on Tuesday.
The backstory:
In March 2024, 42-year-old Jerry Hernandez was driving a concrete truck on Highway 21 when he crossed over the double yellow stripe and crashed into a Hays CISD bus carrying 44 preschoolers and 11 adults who were returning from a field trip.
5-year-old Ulises Rodriguez Montoya was killed, along with Ryan Wallace, 33, who was in a car behind the bus.
Texas school bus crash: Cement truck driver indicted on 4 felony counts
Jerry Hernandez was indicted on two counts of manslaughter and two counts of criminally negligent homicide.
Hernandez was indicted on two counts of manslaughter and two counts of criminally negligent homicide.
The indictment says he took no evasive action to avoid striking the vehicles.
Court documents show Hernandez admitted to using marijuana the night before the crash, cocaine the morning of, and only slept three hours. His employer, FJM Concrete, is accused of not checking his background before they hired him.
Attorney speaks out
Local perspective:
"There's not anything that's going to make people whole, but our hope is that this is one sort of step in that healing journey. It gives them a semblance of justice," Tim Savoy, spokesperson for Hays CISD, said.
Ulises Montoya, 5, was killed, along with Ryan Wallace, 33, who was in a car behind the bus.
Push for school bus seatbelts after crash
This week marks two months since a concrete truck plowed into a school bus in Bastrop County, killing a student and a driver of another car. The bus involved did not have seatbelts.
Jason Feltoon represents seven of the most severely injured children and a faculty member who is also a parent in the civil lawsuit. He says no one reached out to him about victim impact statements before the deal was made.
"I found out about it just like everyone else did, and was quite surprised, quite frankly, to see that a plea agreement had been agreed upon by the prosecutor and defense counsel," Feltoon said. "To the best of my knowledge, the judge has yet to sign off on this plea agreement."
Those on the bus continue to heal from physical and psychological wounds.
"You're looking at injuries ranging from disfigurement to acute brain injuries, akin to concussions," Feltoon said.
Meanwhile, Hernandez still faces multiple civil lawsuits relating to the crash.
"We continue to do the hard work of trying to obtain a positive result for our clients," Feltoon said.
Dig deeper:
Hays CISD is working to put seat belts on the last 22 buses in their fleet.
"Our school board adopted a plan to accelerate by adding seat belts to all of our buses," Savoy said.
What's next:
Neither the Bastrop County DA nor Hernandez's attorney have responded to our questions about the plea agreement.
Court records show he has a sentencing hearing on September 18.
The Source: Information from interviews conducted by FOX 7 Austin's Angela Shen and previous coverage