The driver of the tractor-trailer that hit the Saint Ignatius College Prep hockey team's bus and injured 20 student-athletes in November of 2022 pleaded guilty in court and was sentenced Monday.
A judge in Indiana sentenced Victor Santos to 22 1/2 years in prison after the trucker from Brooklyn, New York entered his plea.
Santos was charged with 26 counts each of criminal recklessness and causing serious bodily injury while operating a vehicle.
At the time of the accident, 23 student athletes from the Chicago school's junior varsity hockey team and two coaches were on the bus. The team was headed to a hotel from dinner in Warsaw, Indiana, after a tournament in Culver, Indiana.
A total of 20 of the student athletes were hurt when Santos ran a red light and hit the bus.
The crash occurred shortly after 8 p.m. as the bus was making a turn on U.S. 30 in Warsaw, which is located about 40 miles northwest of Fort Wayne. A statement from the Warsaw Police Department at the time said Santos ran a red light and struck the bus in the right rear side, knocking it on its side.
The police statement said the tractor-trailer continued westbound before coming to a stop after driving off the roadway into the ditch an eighth of a mile from the intersection where the crash occurred.
Trucker saved in daring rescue
Firefighters rescued the driver of a tractor-trailer involved in a crash that left the truck's cab hanging off an interstate in Louisville, Kentucky Sunday, May 4.
The crash occurred shortly before 10 a.m. on southbound Interstate 65.
A Louisville Fire Department firefighter was lowered by rope over the overpass. They entered the truck's cab, placed the driver in a harness and botuh were raised to safety,
The truck's driver, who was not identified, was taken to a local hospital.
The incident was similar to one in March of 2024 that left a truck dangling off the Clark Memorial Bridge over the Ohio River. The driver of that truck was similarly rescued.
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