Affidavit: Pickup Driver Was on Pills and Texting Before Fatal Church Bus Crash
According to an affidavit, 20-year-old Jack Dillon Young was on medication and was texting when his pickup collided with a church bus in Concan last month. The horrific accident left 13 people dead.
DPS Affidavit Shines New Light on Fatal Concan Bus Crash
In an affidavit for a search warrant, the Texas Department of Public Safety states that Young admitted to consuming the prescription medications Clonazepam, Ambien, and Lexapro prior to the crash. He also claimed that he was distracted by his cell phone at the time of the collision.
In addition to Young’s admission, the affidavit states that a DPS investigator who found several medications in the front seat of Young’s pickup. These included 29 Zolpidem pills, 30 Escitalopram pills, an empty bottle of Prazosin, and an empty bottle of Clonazepam.
Zolpidem is the generic form of Ambien, and Escitalopram is the generic form of Lexapro.
At the time the affidavit was filed, investigators were seeking access to Young’s phone records. Young could face manslaughter charges once those records are analyzed.
Texas Traffic Accident Statistics
The following information was provided by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT):
- 3,531 traffic-related fatalities were recorded in Texas in 2015. This marked little charge from the 3,536 deaths recorded in 2014.
- An additional 246,335 people were injured in auto accidents in Texas in 2015 with 17,011 people suffering serious injuries.
- Based on reportable crash data for 2015, TxDOT estimates:
- One person was killed in a traffic accident in Texas every 2 hours and 29 minutes.
- One person was injured every 2 minutes and 8 seconds.
- A reportable crash occurred every 61 seconds.
