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The concrete truck driver who veered into oncoming traffic last year and struck an area school bus, killing a man and child, was sentenced Thursday afternoon to nearly two decades behind bars.
Jerry Hernandez, 44, received 18 years for each of two manslaughter counts, though the sentences will run concurrently, according to Bastrop County officials. He had entered a guilty plea in June during a pre-trial hearing before 423rd District Court Judge Chris Duggan.
Under the plea deal, prosecutors dropped two counts of criminally negligent homicide. Each manslaughter charge, a second-degree felony in Texas, carries a possible sentence of two to 20 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.
The crash happened in March 2024 after Hernandez crossed the centerline on Texas 21 and struck a Hays Consolidated Independent School District bus. The Tom Green Elementary bus, not equipped with seat belts, flipped onto its side while carrying students and staff returning from a field trip to the Bastrop Zoo, according to a Department of Public Safety probe.
Five-year-old student Ulises Rodriguez and Ryan Wallace, 33, a University of Texas doctoral student whose Hyundai crashed into the overturned bus, died at the scene. More than 50 others were injured, including 10 people who were airlifted or hospitalized with serious wounds.
Tom Green Principal Jennifer Hanna said the tragedy continues to weigh heavily on the community.
“The pain we continue to feel today is profound,” she said in June.
Court records show Hernandez admitted to using cocaine the morning of the crash after smoking marijuana the night before and sleeping about three hours. Documents also revealed he had failed multiple drug tests between 2020 and 2023, yet his commercial driver’s license remained valid.
“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 read.
Families of Rodriguez, Wallace and survivors have filed civil lawsuits against Hernandez and FJM Concrete, the company that owned the truck, alleging negligence and inadequate driver screening. Federal rules requiring states to downgrade licenses for drug or alcohol violations did not take effect until late 2024.
In the months following the crash, Hays CISD began replacing and upgrading its bus fleet. Voters approved a $7 million bond last spring to finish outfitting all district buses with seat belts.
