“Imminent hazard” driver on drugs indicted on manslaughter and homicide charges

A truck driver that crashed into a school bus the morning after taking drugs was indicted on multiple charges in a Texas courtroom on Tuesday. 

43-year-old Jerry Hernandez was initially charged with two counts of criminally negligent homicide for the March crash that killed a preschool student and a motorist, but the grand jury in Bastrop County, Texas added two counts of manslaughter. Hernandez was indicted on Tuesday, August 6th. 

According to Austin American-Statesman, Hernandez admitted to investigators that he had consumed a “small amount of cocaine” and marijuana the night before the wreck, and had gotten only three hours of sleep and a 15 minute nap in his truck cab before crashing his concrete truck into the loaded preschool bus. 

Hernandez was employed by FJM Concrete Pumping LLC, owned by Francisco Martinez. Martinez has since admitted that he “had not verified the status of Mr. Hernandez’s commercial driver’s license or his status through the federal Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse database before employing him as a driver.” 

Hernandez had three positive drug tests in 2020, and was technically prohibited from driving, but his CDL status had not been officially downgraded at the time of the wreck. 

There are several civil suits being filed against Hernandez and Martinez by the families involved in the tragic accident.