Truckdriver in Tusky Valley bus crash pleads not guilty, remains in jail
NEWARK (WJER) (August 1, 2024) – A Zanesville truck driver on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to charges in the November crash that killed three Tusky Valley students and three chaperones who were accompanying them on a band trip.
Court records show 61-year-old Jacob McDonald is still in jail in Licking County on a $1 million bond. He pleaded not guilty to a 26-count indictment that includes six felony counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and 20 lesser counts of vehicular assault and assault.
Prosecutors allege that in the Nov. 14 crash on I-70 near Etna, McDonald did not slow down and may have been using a cell phone when he started the chain reaction crash. Investigators say the truck he was driving at 74 miles per hour crashed into the rear of a vehicle carrying the chaperones and continued into the rear of the charter bus. Those vehicles had slowed down because of an earlier accident. Police arrested McDonald July 18, eight months after the crash that killed six and injured 20 more.