come on let's get up come on Tuesday November 14th 2023 Licking County Ohio police were responding to a crash at mile marker 11 17.2 on Interstate 70 when they got an emergency call about a second accident a mile down the road at marker 118.7 the Collision was violent and within seconds smoke started to fill the air police units along with fire and EMS teams rushed to the scene but they had no idea what kind of nightmare they were about to find I'm Tyler and this is your daily dose of crime coming up the interstate here and I looked up and he locked up his brakes and I locked mine up and I was sitting still and he got hit into me okay he was sitting still yep I was sling on my BR I had my foot on the brakes okay so you hit the CRV and then the CRV hit who me you and then he hit you so you already in the front yeah all right I need license registration improvment insurance for everybody gather all that up together and then bring it to me who needs toad anybody you're going to need toad okay oh yeah I can see your front now I got a car fire [Applause] back19 Lancaster this is going to be a charter bus get out of the car come on let's get out get out come on move move heav you had communication anyone here 81 I don't see anyone somebody get a count on the k t as as I could out count them up get in iterate count them up anyone need EMF what's that anyone need EMF a bunch of small they're they're conscious though yeah a chain reaction crash had taken place a freight liner Cascadia tractor trailer had slammed into the back of a Nissan Morano which then hit the rear of a van hul bus the bus then crashed into a Toyota Highlander which spun out of control and struck the left side of a Volvo rig after the initial crash of fire broke out that completely consumed the tractor trailer the Nissan and the back of the bus how did this happened when traffic was barely moving at 30 mph I do have a witness and this was in this the dud the dude in that got out yeah he's um right there there's one of them we pulled in the red car about the semi I don't know noidea he in there semii the guy in the semi's alive yeah were you the only one in the SUV what happened trck stop I sto behind where were you at sir can't hear you you're in the what I was in you're in the semi what happened you have any identification on you is there anyone else in the truck with you and you said I already asked you this you didn't have anyone else with you I your license just hold on to that okay you said you were hit by the bus did you hit anyone in front of you what's that sir see should be one of the officers spoke with two drivers who were injured on the side of the highway one of them was the semi-truck driver and when asked about what had happened the driver still in shock said that he wasn't sure what went wrong but believed his truck's breakes didn't work properly the situation was getting worse and it was still unclear how many people were involved officers and firefighters were doing everything they could to put out the fire but a much worse reality was waiting once they were able to properly assess the scene I'm not going to bother taking a picture I just need you to make sure you load them up today no bodies on him sheets sheets sheets okay did we get a plate on this did you find anything I don't they found another they think they found another in the semi in the semi like passenger okay they said they found they said there's bone fragment okay the the other thing that we've got to make sure is if if that semi- driver walked away somebody needs to be getting a hold of them doing statements all that stuff so LT what have a really think that there's another person in that they're saying that they see bone fragment but it's like over on the right hand side so that's got that's where the fire was still I just had to extinguish yeah I mean I saw it I don't it looked like bone but disconnected sem it's a previous crash if that's confusing anybody so this was a secondary correct there was another crash up the road a little bit and then they had said traffic was backed up and then this happened in the slow down to the traffic that's not like you know not directly involved but involved because of the traffic they said I heard the chap say that they just she said that they were slowing down they were behind that semi she said that they were slowing down they felt a big hit and then the front windshield shatter and that's much all she said camera uh I didn't talk to I didn't see the driver I've been in there I didn't see did this driver get transported yeah um there's two back there they think they might have found somebody else in the semi the officers had just found the first fatality what appeared to be remains of a passenger from a semitruck the scene was horrific and as the smokeing a began to clear more bodies were discovered oh no what's your count on the kids and how was on the bus there was okay there were 52 kids and there were three adults so there was 55 total 55 total with the driver 56 with the driver okay 56 with the driver 56 with the driver we had one MPC where's the driver the bus he's he has a broken foot and I think he's laying down there okay all right so he's the one with the broken foot all right so where were you sitting at I was in the very front okay with next to the driver to give him directions okay my assistant was in the back um but I know that there's two kids that didn't make it in the back yeah that's the count the kids don't know yet you know what happened all I know is that we were talking and and then um all of a sudden we just got slammed and I asked my assistant what happened he goes that semi TR just ran the back of we were coming in the traffic and so our coach slowed down started to slow down and he just ran right the back did you get forc into the vehicle in front of you if you recall uh we he the the guy turn was able to turn it so that we bu we didn't I don't think we hit the person in the front but I don't know what happened with the front end it was just such an impact from the back that the front of the bus I don't know if he hit I actually don't know if he hit somebody but the front of the bus I just saw it like and then the glass shattered and we were trying to get the glass shattered in the front after you got hit in the yeah yes yes yeah got it and then um and then we I I looked back and it was smoking and they're going we're on fire we're on fire so I I was getting the kids out like get out get out hurry up hurry up hurry up and so that and then I came off with the majority of the kids and then my assistant um was trying to get the kids off the bat cuz I know he was more toward the back because it was it was like really inflamed okay where you guys come what school is this high school we tusky Valley High School it's actually tusar t s c a r a w a s and then Valley Stage High School okay and we're from uh it's zville z a r v i l l e I'm sorry zor z o a r v i l L Ohio 44656 656 okay and we were on our way to the convention center because we're supposed to perform for the Ohio School Board Association what do you performing uh we were performing um for yeah yeah we're the band yeah okay do we have a a list of the kids that were actually the car I'm going to need that here it's on two paper sir because this is our bus number one I assume you need this too yeah on the bus were 55 passengers from tuscaro West Valley High School 52 children and three adults the woman described what she remembered from the accident the bus driver had slowed down because of traffic and then just moments later they were rear ended setting off a chain reaction crash officers were trying to get a list of the children who were on the bus hoping that everyone was okay but things didn't seem to be getting any better as time passed what did you I didn't to talk to you what did you see what did You observe what happened um I was in front of the um the semi that the bus ran into after it got hit um when I I heard I I knew something was going to happen because this I drive this route every day and traffic was too stop it usually happens closer to Reynoldsburg um but yeah I was handling a crash up there yeah I was already handling one up there every day it's every day I own a business in uh whiteall so I make this trip every day hour and a half but I saw it on my GPS so I had been watching and the Left Behind the semi literally just stuff going everywhere I mean cars fire everything um I was compelled to pull over um I pulled way up here so that I was safe um I got out and I realized the kids were um running out of the bus okay so I ran down to help um everybody kept yelling that all the kids are off the bus but it kept exploding and there was still kids on the bus okay were you okay that I talk to a couple parents just kids use my cell phone um I put my hand on the one boy's head while they came in CPR pray for so what I'm going to have you do is all that stuff as far as helping and stuff we'll get later so what I need on here is that you were westbound on 70 and the Crash itself you don't have to go into details with the boy and all that stuff okay we have investigators that are here now and they hosit long they might follow up with you one in a couple days or something if we need more the only thing I saw was just it after it happened and it exploded multiple times after that so just put your westbound on Interstate 70 traffic had come to a stop um heard this saw this fire that okay I'm going trade you we all have our pet right well that see that one's silver I'll come up missing it's not purple so I wouldn't take it yeah one of the people who witnessed the crash told officers that she had helped get the kids off the bus her distress and sadness as she spoke about the incident showed just how terrifying it was for everyone involved and how the adults on scene did everything they could to save the kids even though the outcome ended up being tragic she along with other Witnesses would be essential to the investigation 1547 you come on well you know the the crash you're involved in back in uh November well we're here to arrest you for that okay they put a warant out for your arrest so we got to take in today okay okay Wednesday July the 18th of 2024 8 months after the crash Jacob McDonald the driver of the semi was found responsible for the wreck after a thorough investigation based on security camera footage witness statements and a detailed analysis of the impact it was clear that McDonald had never slowed down and there was no sign he'd even touch the brakes before the crash so then what did it all mean so want you go ahead and come on over here for me turn around keep your hands out your pockets for me okay we'll get this going so we can get him love you too yeah love just appreciate you being you know Cooperative here and everything it's not what we want to do here it's not I wanted to hide right right no no no we know you do we know you do we're going to read you your rights here in a minute and everything once you sit down we're just going to get you in the car okay have seat we have him we out to the jail now Jacob was taken in custody and cooperated fully with the authorities he showed no aggression anger or denial towards the officers and followed all procedures helping to make things easier on the officials and left some wondering whether he was truly to blame for the tragedy you read Mr McDon his rights while we're driving there and I'll hold on and get this punched in we'll go sir got tell your rights you got the right to S anything you say can against you in court you're the right to talk to a lawyer for advice before ask you any questions have a lawyer present with you during questioning if you're unable to pay a lawyer want to be appointed for your prior any question if you so desire if you wish to answer questions now without a lord pres you have the right to stop answering questions at any time you also have the right to stop answering questions at any time until you talk to the Lord do you understand your rights thank you so basically just so we can fill you on what's going on they've charged you with five counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and you've been charged with um I believe 20 20 21 counts of aggravated vehicular assault okay I don't believe there's a bond so you'll probably have to spend the night and then hopefully they'll get you ared in the a.m. Jacob McDonald age 60 remains in custody after being charged for his role in the crash on November 14th of 2023 which led to the deaths of Dave kennet Christy Gainer Shannon wigfield John W Mosley Jeffrey D warl and Caitlyn n Owens McDonald faces 26 charges including aggravated vehicular homicide he's being held on a $1 million Bond and scheduled to appear before a judge