Trial begins for truck driver blamed for fatal Tusky Valley crash
NEWARK, Ohio (WJER) (May 6, 2025) – The trial is underway for the truck driver charged in connection to the Tusky Valley charter bus chain reaction crash that killed six people on I-70 east of Columbus in November of 2023.
61-year-old Jacob McDonald of Zanesville is charged with 26 counts, including 6 counts of aggravated vehicular homicide.
The prosecution has alleged that cell phone usage by McDonald just prior to the crash was a factor.
McDonald elected to have a bench trial, putting his fate with a judge rather than a jury.
Eugene S. Manns Jr., a driver with the Department of Veterans Affairs, testified he was in the left lane when the crash happened in the right lane.
Manns said he heard a loud crash and looked out the passenger window where he “saw the truck pushing a bus down the road.” Manns told the judge the truck then went up the back of the bus “like it was on a rollercoaster, and it slammed down.”
Others who testified Monday included another truck driver whose vehicle was struck that morning, a trooper who responded to the crash scene, and the driver of a car rear-ended by the charter bus.
Bodycam footage from the trooper and dashcam video from the truck driver who testified was also played in court Monday morning.
The trial is expected to continue for three or four days.
Follow along with live trial video from Ohio News Network affiliate WBNS TV in Columbus here.