The autopsy report on the truck driver involved in a west Texas school bus crash in late March of this year has come back testing positive for Methamphetamine.
The accident, which occurred on Thursday, March 23rd outside of Mt. Pleasant, Texas, happened on Highway 271 at approximately 10:45 p.m.
According to WFAA, School track coach Van Bowen was driving the school bus southbound on 271 when a tractor trailer veered across the highway and into oncoming traffic. The school bus swerved to avoid a head-on collision with the semi truck, leaving the truck to collide with the car traveling behind the bus.
Van Bowen was transported to the hospital in critical condition.
Both Angelica Beard, assistant coach and driver of the car trailing the school bus, and Bradley Farmer, driver of the semi truck, were killed in the accident.
18 students were taken to the hospital for treatment, one of them by airlift.
Now, the final DPS crash report for the incident has been released.
The toxicology reports conducted by the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office show .19 mg/L of methamphetamine in Farmer’s body at the time of death.
No traces of alcohol or any other drug were detected.
The Friday following the crash, over 200 Mt. Pleasant residents attended a vigil for the deceased and injured, where residents remembered the life of Coach Beard and celebrated the heroic efforts of Coach Van Bowen.