The preschooler killed in a school bus crash on Friday has been identified by his Texas school district.
Ulises Rodriguez Montoya, 5, died from injuries sustained after the school bus he was on was struck by a concrete truck that swerved into the bus’s lane.
The school bus, which was carrying 44 pre-kindergarten students from Tom Green Elementary school, had been returning from a field trip to the Capital of Texas Zoo.
The Texas Department of Public Safety said that the cement truck veered into the school bus just before a driver in a third vehicle – a Dodge Charger – crashed into the bus.
The adult male driver of the Charger also died.
Ulises Rodriguez Montoya, 5, died from injuries sustained Friday after the school bus he was on was struck by a concrete truck that swerved into the bus’s lane
A Texas Department of Public Safety trooper inspects the scene of the fatal school bus crash
A pre-Ke-er is taken from the scene of the crash by an emergency responder
Community members described Montoya as a ‘child who was filled with a lot of happiness,’ which he ‘often shared with others,’ according to Naira (Dina) Solís Shears, his pre-K bilingual teacher.
‘He had a talent for drawing and his favorite thing to draw was dinosaurs. He could almost completely spell the word dinosaur, which demonstrates how smart he was.
‘He always had a dinosaur drawn on all of the assignments he turned in. He liked to tell stories and shared many with his friends and family. Above all – he was a loving child,’ she said.
Classes at Tom Green, which is part of the Hays Consolidated Independent School District, were canceled Monday – though the building was open for those in search of counseling.
According to recent reports, plans for the little boy’s funeral and memorial service are still pending.
A GoFundMe launched by Ulises’ aunt has raised more than $60,000 that will go toward funeral, burial, and other unforeseen expenses the family must now stomach.
The school bus carrying the young students reportedly did not have seatbelts, because it was manufactured in 2011, before the state of Texas mandated the safety feature aboard such vehicles.
Ulises Rodriguez Montoya was remembered as a happy child who loved dinosaurs and often shared his joy with others
Families reunite with their children at Tom Green Elementary in Buda, Texas, after pre-K students from the school were involved in a bus roll-over crash on Texas State Highway 21 near Caldwell Road on Friday, March 22, 2024, in Bastrop, Texas
A little girl is transported from a fatal school bus crash on Texas State Highway 21 near Caldwell Road on Friday
A statement from the school district says the family of the deceased child is ‘grateful for the tremendous outpouring of support, condolences, and prayers from the community and from people all over the world.’
Montoya is survived by his immediate and extended family, including his parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins – all of whom will miss him.
Following the crash on Friday, scores of other children were also transported to local hospitals.
According to a statement from Tom Green Elementary, 51 others were also injured.
A GoFundMe launched by the elementary school’s leadership team has raised close to $78,000 for the devastated community. Of Sunday evening, two students and two school district employees remained hospitalized.
The crash occurred on Texas State Highway 21, about an hour away from the school’s Buda location.
People are transported from a fatal school bus crash near Austin – the class of preschoolers were returning from a visit to the zoo
The school bus was manufactured in 2011, and therefore did not have seatbelts
Classes at Tom Green, which is part of the Hays Consolidated Independent School District, were canceled Monday – though the building was open for those in search of counseling
Families were alerted to the crash and spent agonizing hours awaiting reunification with their children.
For many of the children on the bus, the crash was a tragic ending to their first field trip.
According to one local KXAN report, Hector Campos said receiving the phone call Friday that his daughter’s school bus had been in an accident was ‘the worst feeling in the world.’
‘You never think you would get one, and for me, my heart sunk right away.’
The concerned father says he rushed to the crash site, where he waited hours to see if his daughter was okay.
‘It was just complete chaos there. It was very hard,’ he said. His daughter, Caliana, walked away from the fatal crash with just a few scratches.