Driver in fatal school-bus crash facing charges
Jerry Hernandez
The March 22 collision involving a Hays Consolidated Independent School District bus carrying adults and preschoolers and a cement truck claimed the lives of a 5-year-old boy and an adult. The driver is being charged with criminally negligent homicide. Photo by Jason Hennington
UPDATED April 1, 8:15 a.m.
A 42-year-old man identified in multiple reports as the driver of a cement truck involved in a fatal collision with a Hays Consolidated Independent School District bus now faces a charge of criminally negligent homicide.
Bastrop County records Friday afternoon did not indicate a bond amount for Jerry Hernandez, nor did they reflect his incarceration status.
Not long after the March 22 incident, he was taken to St. David’s South Austin where investigators from the Department of Public Safety obtained a search warrant from 423rd state District Judge Chris Duggan to do a blood draw.
Court records cited by KEYE television of Austin as supporting a probable-cause affidavit indicate a driver questioned by DPS in the case said he used marijuana and cocaine before the accident, as well as only getting three hours of sleep.
The crash claimed the life of Ulises Rodriguez Montoya, 5, a preschooler on the bus, as well as a motorist whose 2024 Hyundai struck the overturned bus after the accident.
University of Texas at Austin mass communication doctoral candidate Ryan Wallace, 33, of Bastrop, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Earlier information from law enforcement mistakenly listed Wallace’s vehicle as a Dodge Charger.
According to Bastrop County records, the charge of criminal negligent homicide is a state-jail felony. A conviction is punishable by a sentence of 180 days to two years behind bars and a fine not to exceed to $10,000.
School officials said 44 children — ages 4 to 6 — and 11 adults were making a return trip to Tom Green Elementary School in Buda after an outing at the Bastrop Zoo when the collision occurred.
Investigators said a cement truck traveling east on Texas 21 drifted out of its lane and struck the school bus carrying the preschoolers and other passengers near the FM 812 intersection.
The bus tumbled onto its side, as seen in security footage provided by the Hays Consolidated Independent School District. Wallace’s vehicle then struck the upturned bus.
The mishap sent 10 others with severe injuries to area hospitals.
“All students have been released from the hospital as of Monday afternoon. One staff member remains who is an early childhood education teacher at Tom Green Elementary,” according to a Hays CISD spokesperson. “She is going to recover, but her physical recovery will take time because of the nature of her injuries.”
According to an affidavit obtained by Austin’s KXAN news outlet, Duggan issued the warrant for a blood sample March 22 after Hernandez initially refused to provide a voluntary specimen for analysis.
Trooper Jacob Burlinson carried out the warrant, speaking with Hernandez in the hospital, according to officials. The man told the trooper he “smoked marijuana at approximately 10 p.m. the night before the crash,” the documents said.
The driver reportedly slept for only three hours, waking up at 12:30 a.m., and “admitted to consuming cocaine about 1 a.m. on the morning of the crash,” the report added.
Texas’ hours-of-service regulations for commercial driver’s license holders mandate eight consecutive hours of off-duty time before beginning a shift.
Hernandez is currently being held at the Bastrop County Jail.
Pick up the latest copy of the Courier for more details on the case.