Truck driver charged in November crash involving Tusky Valley band
NEWARK (WJER) (July 22, 2024) – Charges have now been filed in the crash that killed three Tusky Valley band members and three chaperones in November of last year.
A Licking County grand jury last week indicted 61-year-old Jacob McDonald of Zanesville on 26 counts, including six counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, a third-degree felony.
McDonald drove the semi that rear-ended the vehicle carrying the chaperones and the charter bus carrying Tusky Valley band members.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol report said the semi was following too close behind and failed to slow down when traffic started to back up from an earlier crash.
McDonald was being held in the Licking County Jail Monday morning on a $1 million bond. In addition to the six aggravated vehicular homicide charges, he faces 20 lesser counts of vehicular assault and assault. Twenty other Tusky Valley students were injured in the crash.
Those killed in the crash were students Wyatt Mosley, Jeffery Worrell and Katelyn Owens, along with Dave Kennat, Kristy Gaynor and Shannon Wigfield.
Three families have filed wrongful death lawsuits against McDonald, the trucking company and the dealership that sold the truck.