Truck driver in fatal church bus crash took pills and had marijuana in his truck, affidavit states
Thirteen people died in the crash.
— -- Jack Dillon Young, the 20-year-old man whose pickup smashed head-on into a church bus last month, killing 13 people in Concan, Texas, was using prescription pills and had marijuana in his truck, according to a Texas Department of Public Safety affidavit for a search warrant.
The bus was carrying senior adult congregants from the First Baptist Church in New Braunfels, Texas, who were on their way home from a three-day retreat at the Alto Frio Baptist Encampment when the truck and bus collided on March 29.
The affidavit says that a DPS trooper found two full marijuana cigarettes and five partially smoked ones in the pickup truck following the accident, and that a DPS investigator had probable cause to believe Young was intoxicated during the collision because he said he had taken prescription pills.
According to the affidavit, Young said he had taken Clonazepam, Ambien and Lexapro before the crash occurred. In Young's car, Zolpidem and Escitalopram pills, generic forms of Ambien and Lexapro respectively, were found in separate bottles, the affidavit states. An empty bottle of Clonazepam and an empty bottle of Prazosin were also found, according to the affidavit.
Previously, a witness to the crash, Jody Kuchler, told The Associated Press that Young had crossed the center line of the highway prior to the collision.
According to the AP, Kuchler said Young told her immediately after the accident, while still pinned in his truck, that he had been texting while driving.
Kuchler told the AP that he told the driver, "Son, do you know what you just did?"
Young repeatedly apologized, Kuchler said.
No charges had been filed in the crash as of Wednesday.
District Attorney Daniel Kindred told the AP that it could be more than a month before the investigation file from the Department of Public Safety is forwarded to his office.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.