TX - Truck/van crash with 9 fatalities, Andrews, Mar 2022

[airportwoman]

This makes the whole story even more tragic, and I suspect the toxicology report is going to be, for want of a better word, interesting. The child has not been named yet, that I know of.

9 dead after crash involving New Mexico university’s golf teams in West Texas

The only survivors were two people in the van, which was transporting a college golf team and their coach, and they are in critical condition.

 

[realanastasia]

Child, 13, was driving pickup that hit USW golf team bus, killing six, in head-on crash in Texas | Daily Mail Online

“Texas boy, 13, who was driving dad's truck when it veered onto wrong side of road and crashed into van full of USW students, killing nine 'months after Mennonite teen burned down family's home'

• Ricky Siemens, 13, and his father, Heinrich Siemens, 38, were among nine people who died in Tuesday's crash in Andrews, Texas
• NTSB said Thursday that a 13-year-old boy was driving the pickup truck that hit the van near Andrews, Texas
• He was in the car with his father Heinrich Siemens, 38. Both died, with seven people in a bus they crashed into also losing their lives after Tuesday night's smash
• This is the second tragedy to befall the family recently. Before Christmas 2021, the boy burned the family house to the ground after he left the stove unattended while cooking some eggs, according to a family friend
• Six students from the University of the Southwest and their 26 year-old coach were all killed in the smash
• They were members of the men's and women's college golf teams, and had been attending a tournament
• The parents of Karisa Raines, 21, called their daughter's death a 'terrible nightmare' in an interview Thursday
• 'We are praying so much for the families of all those other kids,' father Gary Raines said on the Today show
• Coach Tyler James, 26, graduated with a master's degree in May and was said to be working at his 'dream job'
• James was driving the van carrying eight students when a pickup truck rammed into them Thursday night
• The athletes were headed back to New Mexico from a tournament in Texas; Both cars caught on fire
• Also killed in the crash were Laci Stone, 18; Mauricio Sanchez, 19, of Mexico; Travis Garcia, 19, of Pleasanton, Texas; Jackson Zinn, 22, of Westminster, Colorado; and Tiago Sousa, 18
• Two students, Hayden Underhill and Dayton Price, survived and were airlifted to a hospital”

 

[airportwoman]

I think they may want to investigate that fire a little further. Are they sure it wasn't arson, set by the kid?

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Preliminary information indicates the left front tire of the pickup was a spare that failed

So dad seems to have allowed a 13-year-old to illegally drive the truck, that was using a spare tire, on a highway. IMO.
What a horrible tragedy.

University of the Southwest golf teams: NTSB investigating crash in Texas that killed 9 people and left two critically injured - CNN

 

[Laughing]

I think they may want to investigate that fire a little further. Are they sure it wasn't arson, set by the kid?

Yup.

jmho ymmv lrr

 

[dalsglen]

I think they may want to investigate that fire a little further. Are they sure it wasn't arson, set by the kid?

Don't suppose it makes much difference now.

Isn't it amazing how some people even reach adulthood.

 

[BrownRice]

I feel for all of these victims and their families. Especially the parents. Their lives will never be the same.

I also feel for the 13 yo driver’s mom. She lost a child and husband. A husband who was so negligent, that had he lived, he probably would have faced criminal charges. To grieve their deaths and to know her child killed all these victims would be more than I could bear.

 

[Lillymac]

I feel for all of these victims and their families. Especially the parents. Their lives will never be the same.

I also feel for the 13 yo driver’s mom. She lost a child and husband. A husband who was so negligent, that had he lived, he probably would have faced criminal charges. To grieve their deaths and to know her child killed all these victims would be more than I could bear.

A tire blew out and the driver lost control. This would have been the same tragedy regardless of who was driving. Let's wait for all the facts before passing out blame. MO

 

[Tower]

A tire blew out and the driver lost control. This would have been the same tragedy regardless of who was driving. Let's wait for all the facts before passing out blame. MO

The adult who was responsible for the child and the truck allowed the child to drive on a spare tire at high speed. I do not blame the child, but this was very preventable by the adult, in many ways. Moo

 

[BrownRice]

A tire blew out and the driver lost control. This would have been the same tragedy regardless of who was driving. Let's wait for all the facts before passing out blame. MO

No, I respectfully disagree. A 13 yo has literally no experience driving. An adult who had years of driving experience may have been able to control the car, who knows. We will never know. And the tire he was driving on was a spare, even more negligence on part of the father.

 

[nao]

Moo..i am pretty sure the boy had driving experience. Probably been driving farm vehicles for awhile. The family was having a hard since house burnt. Check the moms fb he was the oldest son looks like a good kid. Sometimes an accident is just an accident blowing a front tire at highway speed very rarely ends well.....moo

 

[ChatteringBirds]

It wasn't necessary for the father to allow his 13-year-old to drive illegally, on the highway no less, before buying and installing a new tire on the truck. IMO that was extremely dangerous. Letting him drive at all was extremely dangerous.

And even assuming the 13-year-old had experience driving farm equipment, that in no way made this a safer nor a more legal choice.

We can't say the accident would have happened in the same way if responsible choices were made. One second difference could have changed fate. MOO.

 

[BrownRice]

Father of boy, 13, in fatal Texas crash was a career criminal


Father of boy, 13, who crashed into bus of USW golfers was a career criminal | Daily Mail Online

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Even worse than we thought then. My heart goes out to the 13-year-old's mother and the families of the other victims. This was so senseless.

 

[borndem]

Moo..i am pretty sure the boy had driving experience. Probably been driving farm vehicles for awhile. The family was having a hard since house burnt. Check the moms fb he was the oldest son looks like a good kid. Sometimes an accident is just an accident blowing a front tire at highway speed very rarely ends well.....moo

Yes, it's not unusual for a 13 y/o to drive a truck on a family farm -- carrying fertilizer, seed, hay, etc., but the kids are not supposed to be driving on roads or anywhere else outside the farm property.
If the father was having some type of heath emergency, that might have been the reason the son was driving -- that's a possibility. We'll have to wait and see. Certainly this boy should not have been behind the wheel on any road in any situation.
I saw a pic on TV showing a long flatbread truck which had the crash vehicles on it -- both vehicles looked like they had been blown up by a big bomb -- you would have never guessed they were once cars.

This is such a horrible tragedy. So many families and friends are grieving now and will be doing so for the rest of their lives. SMH. Just awful.
We'll see how this goes.

 

[nao]

Moo..just feel so sad for the 13 yr old child. He had no options but to try to be a responsible adult before his time because his dad was a violent emotionally immature adult...moo

 

[airportwoman]

I feel for all of these victims and their families. Especially the parents. Their lives will never be the same.

I also feel for the 13 yo driver’s mom. She lost a child and husband. A husband who was so negligent, that had he lived, he probably would have faced criminal charges. To grieve their deaths and to know her child killed all these victims would be more than I could bear.

And they may come after the estate.

 

[borndem]

And they may come after the estate.

I don't know anything about whatever property, etc., they have, but I don't think the Siemens family would have much of an estate -- maybe some real property, perhaps. A Wrongful Death suit could be brought, IMO, but it may be more trouble than it's worth. Dunno.

 

[Kittybunny]

When I first read that a 13 year old was behind the wheel with his father, I thought about the possibility that the father was too intoxicated to drive and made his son pick him up or some thing. Now reading the article I see that it's definitely a real possibility, and my heart breaks for that poor boy and his mother...I can't even imagine. Just horrific all around.

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

Moo..just feel so sad for the 13 yr old child. He had no options but to try to be a responsible adult before his time because his dad was a violent emotionally immature adult...moo

I tend to think you are right. I can’t believe a parent would let their 13 year old drive a vehicle on a spare tire, at night, and on a two lane highway with a 70-75 mph speed limit. I mean, come on, that is just asking for trouble. I wonder if dad was/had been drinking. Such a horrific loss of young, innocent lives, and the two survivors will never be the same again.