KYTX and staff reports

A crash report released by the Texas Department of Transportation on Friday revealed new information about the Trinity ISD Van crash on December 1st, 2016, that took the life of 7-year-old Journey Magness. 

According to the report, a 2015 Chevrolet Trinity ISD van loaded with eight children was stopped to load additional passengers into the van when a 2008 Ford pick-up, occupied by a 17-year-old driver and three other passengers struck the van from behind. 

The report states Journey Magness was in the fifth seated position in the van and was restrained by a shoulder and lap belt. She was taken to ETMC Trinity, where she was pronounced dead at 7:59 a.m. 

The report states all other eight children were also restrained by a shoulder and lap belt.

The youngest of the children was 5-years-old. 

According to Texas law, all child passengers younger than 8 years old are required to be in “an appropriate child safety seat system wherever they ride in a passenger vehicle,” unless they are taller than 4 feet, nine inches tall. 

“The driver may be in violation of the law if the children were shorter than 4 feet 9 inches,” Lt. Craig Cummings of the Department of Public Safety said.

All other seven children in the crash were listed as “possibly injured” on the report, and five of them were also taken to ETMC Trinity.

The 55-year-old driver of the van did not sustain any injuries. The driver of the truck, also from Trinity, said he did not see the van stopped in the roadway, because the sun “was rising in the area, and it limited visibility.”

 

According to the report, the Trinity ISD van was pushed forward after the crash and came to rest in the roadway an unknown distance away from the point of impact.

The truck left the roadway and collided with a fence that was along the roadway before coming to rest in the ditch, according to the report.