The dashcam video can be seen above. The audio from the video has been removed.
Dash camera video released Thursday by a Texas school district shows the moment a concrete pumper truck veered into oncoming traffic, hitting a school bus carrying more than 40 pre-K students returning from a zoo field trip and killing a child and an adult. Court documents said the truck driver admitted to smoking marijuana and consuming cocaine within 24 hours of the crash.
The deadly collision on March 22 sends the bus rolling over on a rural highway outside Austin.
Videos released by the Hays Consolidated Independent School District showed views, one from the dashcam and another from an external camera. The video showed the truck veer into the bus's lane and the bus overturn. As the dust settled and as papers from the bus blew across the road, drivers were seen exiting their vehicles and rushing toward the bus.
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The original video contained audio from inside the bus. In the edited video above, that audio has been removed.
A 5-year-old boy aboard the bus and a driver in another vehicle were killed. Others aboard the bus were airlifted to hospitals or transported by ambulances. Eleven adults were also aboard the bus.
The crash remains under investigation. Authorities have not said how fast the vehicles were traveling.
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On Thursday, in anticipation of the video being released publicly, Hays CISD Chief Communication Officer Tim Savoy released the following statement:1
Dear Families and Staff of Bus 1106,
Let me begin by expressing how much I continue to be profoundly heartbroken about the tragic accident in which you were involved. I know that processing this trauma is taking tremendous strength and courage on your part. The entire school district community, and the whole nation for that matter, is in your corner.
You may already be aware that school buses are equipped with cameras, both inside and out. We have turned all of the
video from bus #1106 over to law enforcement officials who will use it as part of their investigation.
In Texas, a school district is a public entity and is subject to the Texas Public Information Act. That law ensures you, and any member of the public, has access to almost every piece of information created or retained by the school district – including videos on buses. As a public entity, the district belongs to the taxpayers. Another law – the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) – protects information that is specific about individual students. For example, your children’s educational records. That information belongs to parents.
The district has received from the Austin American Statesman, under the Texas Public Information Act law, a request for copies of the bus videos during the accident. It is not unusual, nor unexpected that we have received such a request. It is the job of journalists to access and assess what your government (the school district) does so that they can serve the public good on your behalf. This dynamic also helps to ensure transparency. The district holds no ill will toward any media organization that has requested this material.
I’m emailing to let you know that in accordance with the Texas Public Information Act, the district is required to, and will,
release the exterior bus videos to the media. These videos do not show any children. However, they may still be disturbing for you to watch because you were involved in the accident. Please know that once released, the videos will likely be widely circulated on social media and we will get requests from additional media outlets for the same material. I want you to be prepared so that you can make your own decisions about whether you wish to view them.
Under provisions afforded in FERPA, to protect the privacy of educational records, the district intends to withhold from
release the interior video of the bus because that video does show identifiable images of students in Hays CISD. This district considers the interior videos to be part of the educational records of the children depicted in them. We may be challenged on not releasing the interior video, but we will work to protect them from release.
I want to tell you that in my role in the district, I work with members of the local and Austin-area media frequently. They
are professionals and have difficult jobs in covering distressing news such as our bus accident. I also know they are human and that they share in the sorrow and emotional pain we all feel. They have expressed that to me this entire week. I expect that they will handle the publication of the released videos with care and professionalism, balancing sensitivities regarding the content with your right, and the right of the public, to have access to the business conducted by the school district.
I anticipate the publication of the videos to occur this afternoon.
My heart remains with all of you, as do my prayers
Tim Savoy
Hays CISD Chief Communication Officer
