Lawsuit filed following truck-bus crash in Warsaw that injured St. Ignatius hockey players

Wendy Cook and a group of fellow St. Ignatius College Prep JV hockey parents were at a restaurant about 50 minutes from their sons' hockey tournament when the phone calls started coming.

"People were standing up, screaming, 'The bus has rolled over. The bus has rolled over,' and we all just ran to the car," Cook recalled.

As the Chicago-based hockey team was returning from a tournament in Culver, Ind. on Nov. 12, their school bus was hit by a semitruck at the intersection of U.S. 30 and Center Street in Warsaw, Ind., just after 8 p.m. The collision caused the bus to turn over on its side.

All 23 players and their two coaches were sent to the hospital following the crash. Many boys were injured, including Wendy's 15-year-old son Alex Cook, who sustained two fractured bones in his face and a concussion. He also had a seizure while still on the bus.

Wendy was one of many St. Ignatius parents who spoke at a news conference Tuesday, Nov. 29, in which Chicago-based Cavanagh Law Group announced it had filed a lawsuit on behalf of the parents and two coaches of 16 St. Ignatius hockey players against the driver of the semitruck, Victor Santos. Cavanagh Law Group filed the lawsuit on Monday, Nov. 28, in Kosciusko County.

The lawsuit alleges Santos had a blood alcohol level of 0.13%, almost twice the legal limit in Indiana, when he ran a red light and hit the school bus. According to a news release, Santos was charged with 26 felony counts of causing serious bodily injury while operating a vehicle and criminal recklessness while armed with a deadly weapon.

The news release also states that Santos is a registered sex offender in the state of New York and was convicted of rape in 1999. He also was previously charged in Indiana with failure to comply with federal motor carrier safety regulations and failure to register under the unified carrier registration system, the release states.

The lawsuit names Santos and trucking companies N&V Trucking Express, B&W Cartage Company, Inc., B&W Cartage, Inc. and B&W Cartage International, Inc. as defendants.

"We believe that the driver was an employee or agent of every one of those trucking companies. You can see on the photographs that N&V had their logo on the tractor with the DOT number … and B&W is on the trailer," attorney Tim Cavanagh said. "So those companies would have had a responsibility based on federal law … to place a safe truck driver in the truck. They did not do that. We want to know why. Because this man is a criminal with a criminal record."

'Mom, it is really bad'

Moments after learning of the crash, Wendy got into a car with four other moms. She said none of the boys were answering their phones.

"For 50 minutes, we tried to figure out if these boys were alive," she said. "Two of the boys were able to call their moms because some bystanders came and gave them their phones. And the first thing we heard about the accident was, 'Mom, it is really bad. It's really, really bad.' And to hear that come from a 14- or 15-year-old boy was so hard to hear."

Eileen Murphy, mother of St. Ignatius hockey player Emmett Murphy, was another parent present at Tuesday's news conference.

"As a child, everyone's been on a school bus. As a parent, you've sent your kids on field trips, you've sent them to tournaments. You think that your child is going to be safe, and, in our case, our kids were on a school bus with the most amazing coaching staff in a small town in Indiana," Eileen said. "We just assumed that they were going to be safe, and unfortunately, this happened. … There needs to be accountability in this. That man should never have been able to drive a semitruck and hit our school bus."

Jeff Rogers, father of 14-year-old hockey player Jack Rogers, expressed a similar sentiment, saying neither the boys nor their coaches should have ever been put in this situation. Jack sustained a pelvic injury, a skull fracture and several broken ribs, his father said at the news conference.

"It's a day-by-day process," Jeff said. "He'll have a long road to recovery, you know, months to recover."

Jeff said all the boys want to do is "be back on the ice with each other."

The boys have been getting together for pizza and to watch those who are able to skate practice, Wendy said. She said Alex told her that when the team is able to play again, he thinks they will be stronger than ever.

"He said to me, 'Mom, you know when we get back out there, I think we may win the whole thing because we're going to have a tighter bond than any other team has ever had,'" Wendy said. "It's not the way you want to get a bond, but, to me, the fact that they can think that way is great."

Email Tribune staff writer Claire Reid at cereid@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: St. Ignatius hockey players, families sue truck driver over bus crash