Witness: Driver who hit church bus said he was texting

Here's what we know about the tragic crash that killed 13 people near Garner State Park.



1. A truck driven by a Jack D. Young, 20, collided with a van carrying a church group on March 29, 2017, on U.S. 83 outside Garner State Park, resulting in 13 deaths. The truck veered into the southbound lane and hit the bus head-on. less Here's what we know about the tragic crash that killed 13 people near Garner State Park.



1. A truck driven by a Jack D. Young, 20, collided with a van carrying a church group on March 29, 2017, on U.S. 83 outside ... more Photo: AP Photo: AP Image 1 of / 36 Caption Close Witness: Driver who hit church bus said he was texting 1 / 36 Back to Gallery

The driver of the pickup that hit a church bus Wednesday in Uvalde County told the first person who reached him in the wreckage, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I was texting on my phone.”

Jack D. Young, 20, was trapped in his truck. In the bus, 13 people were dying.

Jody Kuchler, 55, a welder from Leakey, had followed Young’s pickup for miles on U.S. 83, exclaiming as he watched it jerk in and out of its lane and trying to warn authorities as his girlfriend recorded the scene on her phone.

Young’s truck had hit the small bus as it rounded a curve, carrying 14 members of the First Baptist Church of New Braunfels home from a retreat in Leakey.

“The guy drifted over across the yellow line,” Kuchler said Friday. “The driver of the bus moved over to try to avoid him, but there was nowhere to go with the guardrail there and the truck hit him head on.”

“I told him, ‘Son, do you know what you just did?’” Kuchler recalled telling Young. “He just kept saying, ‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry.’”

A still-shaken Kuchler said he couldn’t do much to help the bus passengers.

“Nobody that was alive in there was making any noise. They just looked at me and I said, ‘Hang on, help is on the way.’” Kuchler said. “None of them said a word. They weren’t crying. They weren’t complaining. They were just sitting there looking at me.”

The lone survivor from the bus, Rose Mary Harris, 64, of New Braunfels, underwent surgery Friday at San Antonio Military Medical Center, a hospital spokesman said.

Young, a Leakey resident, was listed in fair condition Friday at University Hospital in San Antonio. His family has declined interview requests.

Kuchler said he made repeated calls to report the white Dodge pickup was drifting onto the two-lane road’s shoulder and across its center line. He said Uvalde County deputies were dispatched in response, but as the pickup approached the Real County line, he tried to alert authorities there and a Real County dispatcher told him, ‘That’s not Real County.’”

“I told him we’re talking safety here and they need to get him off the road,” Kuchler said.

Kuchler’s girlfriend, Thania Sanchez, used her phone to film Young’s truck as they followed it north at up to 80 mph. It stopped recording after about 14 minutes, shortly before the accident.

The video “will be part of our investigation,” said Jennifer Morrison, in charge of a National Transportation Safety Board investigation.

She said it appeared that most, if not all, of the bus passengers were belted in their seats at the time of the crash. The bus had been converted from a 2004 Ford Econoline van, which she called quite common, and was equipped with seat belts.

“We will not be making any statements regarding the cause of the crash at this time. We are here to gather the facts and the perishable evidence,” for an inquiry on safety issues that will run parallel to a Texas Department of Public Safety investigation, Morrison said, beginning her briefing Friday in Uvalde by offering condolences to those affected by the tragedy.

Daniel Kindred, the district attorney in the 38th judicial district, which includes Uvalde County, met with DPS investigators Thursday and said no decision on a charge will be made until their probe is completed.

“It will be a few weeks before we get hard data to look at,” he said.

The allegation that Young had been distracted by his phone was not lost on supporters of House Bill 62, a measure that would ban texting behind the wheel in Texas while allowing the use of handheld phones and GPS systems.

The bill’s author, Rep. Tom Craddick, R-Midland, released a statement saying he was “saddened by the loss of life and appalled to learn that this crash could have been prevented if the driver of the truck had been paying attention to the road.”

The House last week approved the measure and sent it to the Senate with a 114-32 vote.

“Even before this tragedy occurred we heard of so many situations of accidents because people had been texting,” said Rep. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, another supporter of the bill. “Texas is late in getting this done.”

Kuchler described events as moving in slow motion as he waited for emergency responders and tried to comfort the few senior citizens in the church bus who showed signs of life. But it was clear, he said, that most of them had been killed.

“There was not a whole lot I could do. I wanted to make sure the truck or the bus didn’t catch on fire. I was going to start dragging people out if it did,” Kuchler said. “I didn’t want to move anybody, taking a chance that they had internal injuries.”

The first ambulance on the scene was transporting another patient, but stopped to assist. Kuchler said he broke out the truck’s window in an effort to help emergency medical technicians free Young, whose legs were trapped by crumpled metal.

A dog riding with Young was retrieved after the crash by a worker from nearby Garner State Park and delivered Wednesday to Young’s home, according to a neighbor of Young.

Kuchler said he and Sanchez have had trouble coming to grips with their emotions from what they saw.

“I don’t know if everything has just set in yet. It’s not easy to deal with for either one of us,” he said. “This was preventable. This accident should have never happened.”

zeke@express-news.net

Staff Writers Elena Lutz and Brittney Martin and news researcher Misty Harris contributed to this report. Lutz reported from Austin.