Warsaw bus crash suspect facing 26 felony counts

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WPTA) - Police say the drunk driver accused of hitting a bus full of students in Warsaw is now facing 26 felony counts in the incident.

The crash involved a semi-truck and a school bus in Kosciusko County sent multiple students to the hospital. The truck driver, Victor Santos of Brooklyn, New York, failed the field sobriety test. When he refused to take a chemical test, Warsaw Police obtained a search warrant.

Monday evening, police released updated preliminary charges for Santos. He’s facing four counts of causing serious bodily injury while operating a vehicle, a Level 5 Felony, and 22 counts of criminal recklessness, a Level 6 Felony.

Police say the 26 counts match the 26 victims of the crime.

Kosciusko Central Dispatch had advised that a semi-truck with New Jersey plates was driving westbound at excessive speed, swerving into other lanes and driving off the roadway near the Warsaw city limits on U.S. 30.

Minutes later, the semi collided with the bus at the corner of U.S. 30 and Center Street in Warsaw, substantially damaging both vehicles and causing the bus to fall on the driver’s side with the truck coming to a stop in a roadside ditch. Damage to the truck’s front end and the rear end of the passenger side of the bus indicated that the truck struck the bus. No other vehicles were involved.

According to a press release, the Illinois bus was transporting 23 students and two adult coaches of the Saint Ignatius Prep’s hockey team to a local hotel after a game at Culver Academy when the collision occurred. Two critically injured students were taken to Fort Wayne Lutheran Hospital, and one was transported to Lutheran Kosciusko County.

Police say Santos’ bond is set at $75,000.00 plus $2,500.00 cash.

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