(KYTX CBS 19)

1. Texas man indicted in deadly church bus crash; killed 13

New information in the deadly Mount Pleasant school bus crash that killed a track coach and a truck driver on U.S. Highway 271 one mile south of Talco on March 23 indicates the truck driver tested positive for methamphetamine.

Toxicology reports from the Dallas County Medical Examiner shows the truck driver, Bradley Farmer, had methamphetamine in his system, according to the final crash report from the Texas Department of Public Safety.

In the official autopsy report obtained by The Mount Pleasant Tribune, Farmer had 0.19 mg/L of methamphetamine, but tested negative for alcohol and all other drug screenings.

Farmer was driving the 18-wheeler that swerved across Highway 271 into the path of a Mount Pleasant school bus carrying members of the school’s boys track team.

The school bus driver, track coach Van Bowen, was able to get out of the way and avoid a full head-on collision, but Angelica Beard, a 30-year-old assistant coach for the school who was traveling behind the school bus, was hit by the 18-wheeler.

Beard and Bradley both died at the scene. Van Bowen and 18 students were injured and treated at local hospitals.

Both the girls and boys track teams were traveling back to Mt. Pleasant after a meet at the time of the crash.

The bus carrying the girls’ team was several miles behind the bus carrying the boys’ team and was not involved in the crash.

– KYTX CBS19