The driver of a tractor-trailer that caused a chain reaction crash involving a charter bus that resulted in six people's deaths is now facing criminal charges.
A Licking County grand jury indicted Jacob McDonald, of Zanesville, on Thursday.
The indictment contains 26 counts, including six counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, nine counts of vehicular assault and 11 counts of assault.
McDonald currently remains in the Licking County Justice Center on a $1 million bond. He is next scheduled to appear in court Tuesday afternoon. McDonald does not currently have an attorney listed as representing him.
McDonald was driving a tractor-trailer on Nov. 14, heading west on Interstate 70 in western Licking County, when he failed to slow down for a car in front of him that had slowed down. The tractor-trailer struck the car, which pushed the car into a charter bus carrying 54 students and chaperones from Tuscarawas Valley Local Schools.
The tractor-trailer drove over the vehicle it initially struck and then hit the charter bus. A crash report completed by the Ohio Highway Patrol says McDonald did not have any alcohol or drugs in his system at the time of the crash.
Three students on the bus were killed: John W. Mosely, 18, and Katelyn N. Owens, 15, both of Mineral City, and Jeffery D. Worrell, 18, of Bolivar, according to the Ohio Highway Patrol Granville Post.
A teacher and two other chaperones died after accompanying the students in one of the two passenger vehicles involved in the crash. They include Dave Kennat, 56, of Navarre; Kristy Gaynor, 39, of Zoar; and Shannon Wigfield, 45, of Bolivar.
McDonald has also been named in several lawsuits filed on behalf of the victims and their families.
Thursday's indictment provides little new insight into the crash. The charges McDonald faces include allegations he was driving "recklessly."
The charter bus had been heading to a conference in Columbus where the students were going to perform.
The National Transportation Safety Board is continuing to investigate the crash.
bbruner@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Semi driver charged in fiery Licking County bus crash that killed Tusky Valley students
Most Popular
Comments / 0