Lawsuit Filed Against Pickup Driver in Fatal Church Bus Crash
A lawsuit has been filed against the driver of a pickup that crashed into a church bus in Uvalde County, killing 13 people, news reports say.
Ross Allen, whose father Howard B. Allen was one of the 13 people to die in the crash on March 29, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against 20-year-old Jack D. Young, the driver of the pickup, My San Antonio reports. The lawsuit is also filed against Joseph B. Young, Jack's father.
In the lawsuit, Allen accuses Jack Young of negligence and gross negligence, saying he was smoking marijuana, texting while driving, and consuming prescription pills, and thus failed to maintain control of the pickup, crashing head-on into the church bus 6 miles north of Concan.
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"His conduct involved an extreme degree of risk and he had actual, subjective awareness of the risk involved, but nevertheless proceeded with conscious indifference to the rights, safety and welfare of others," the lawsuit claims.
The suit also accuses Joseph Young of negligence for allowing his son to drive the pickup.
"He was aware of his son's prescription drug and marijuana use. He was also aware of his propensity to text while driving," the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit is seeking at least $1 million in damages. Attorney Charles Sullivan told KSAT that Allen filed the lawsuit on behalf of himself and his father's estate because it would have been what his deceased father wanted.
"He knew that his father wanted people to be held morally responsible and financially responsible," Sullivan said.
Sullivan added that Allen filed the lawsuit because Texas is one of the four states where texting while driving is not banned and the lawsuit seeks to correct this by asking that the Texas Legislature pass legislation that prohibits texting while driving.
Once the bill passes, "it will save lives," Sullivan noted.
Witness accounts
Jody Kuchler, a 55-year-old welder from Leakey, followed Jack Young's truck for miles, watching as he continually swerved in and out of his lane, My San Antonio reported.
Kuchler reached out to Young when the latter crashed into the bus that carried elderly choir members that attended a New Braunfels church. Kuchler quoted Young as saying, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I was texting on my phone."
According to court records, Department of Public Safety Trooper Scott Hewitt quoted Young as telling a crash investigator that he had acquired prescription drugs at a Walgreens and had consumed Ambien, Lexapro and clonazepam. Investigators are understood to have found marijuana in Young's pickup.
