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BASTROP — The concrete truck driver who crossed into oncoming traffic last year and killed two people after striking a Hays Consolidated Independent School District bus pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of manslaughter, Bastrop County court records show.
A child on the bus and another motorist died in the wreck on Texas 21 in south Bastrop County, and the incident led the school district to install seat belts in all buses.
Jerry Hernandez, 44, entered the plea during a pre-trial hearing June 23 before 423rd District Court Judge Chris Duggan.
Each second-degree felony carries a penalty of two to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 under Texas law. The sentences could be served concurrently. Formal sentencing is set for Sept. 18.
“The pain we continue to feel today is profound,” Tom Green Elementary Principal Jennifer Hanna said last spring after the crash, a message echoed by school officials during court proceedings.
Hernandez was indicted in August 2024 on two counts of manslaughter and two counts of criminally negligent homicide in connection with the March 22 crash on 21 near FM 812.
A Department of Public Safety investigation found the truck, owned by FJM Concrete Pumping, crossed the centerline and struck a westbound school bus carrying 44 children and 11 adults returning from a field trip to the Bastrop Zoo. Video footage shows the bus flipped onto its side upon impact, where it was then hit by a Hyundai sedan.
Five-year-old Ulises Rodriguez, a Tom Green Elementary student, and Ryan Wallace, 33, a University of Texas doctoral student driving the Hyundai, died at the scene. Ten other passengers were airlifted or transported with serious injuries. Dozens more were treated for less severe wounds.
An arrest affidavit stated Hernandez said he smoked marijuana the night before, sleeping about three hours, then used cocaine about 1 a.m. before reporting to work. Records show he had failed multiple drug tests in 2020, 2022 and 2023.
Despite this history, Hernandez’s commercial driver’s license remained valid in Texas, as State Driver’s Licensing Agencies were not required to downgrade CDL statuses for drug or alcohol violations until November 2024, according to updated federal regulations.
“He should have been removed from performing safety-sensitive functions at this point by the company he was driving for at the time,” court documents stated.
Families of crash survivors and the estates of Rodriguez and Wallace have filed civil lawsuits against Hernandez and FJM Concrete, alleging negligence and failure to conduct proper driver screenings.
In the months following the crash, Hays CISD moved attention toward its bus-replacement plan. Voters this spring approved $7 million to finish outfitting the fleet with seat belt-equipped buses. District officials said they had complied with state law and that the issue of seat belts had not previously been raised.
