Coroner: Trucker wasn’t drunk in Normal West bus crash

Posted on January 23, 2019
Peoria County coroner Jamie Harwood said toxicology results for Ryan Hute showed he had no substance in his system other than caffeine. (PHOTO Howard Packowitz/WJBC)

 

By WJBC Newsroom

PEORIA COUNTY -Toxicology results for the man driving the semi truck that struck the Normal West school bus on Interstate 74 in early December show the driver wasn’t drunk or under the influence of drugs.

Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood says 34-year old Ryan Hute of Iowa had no substances in his system other than caffeine. Police said Hute was driving the wrong way on I-74 and crashed head-on into the school bus, killing Hute and 72-year old Charlie Crabtree, who was a volunteer for Normal West’s junior varsity girls basketball team.

Last week, Unit 5 administrators said JV coach Steve Price and bus driver Mark Kuhn, who were critically injured in the crash, have been released from the hospital. None of the students on the bus suffered life-threatening injuries.

Crabtree’s wife has filed a lawsuit against Hute’s employer, Jason Farrell Trucking in Iowa. The pending lawsuit seeks over $50,000 in damages.

WJBC Newsroom can be reached at [email protected]

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year.  It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city.   Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University.   We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk.  Going to work every day for some people means…