Driver that caused bus crash in 2022 pleads guilty, victims get glimpse of justice

KOSCIUSKO COUNTY, Ind. -- A trucker convicted of driving drunk and hitting a bus full of high school hockey players is now heading to prison.

61-year-old Victor Santos was sentenced to two decades Monday for the 2022 crash in Warsaw that injured 20 hockey players.

The attorney representing the Saint Ignatius hockey players and their families says it’s an appropriate sentence.

It’s been two and a half years since that crash, and those young men who were on the bus that day say they are still dealing with physical and mental toll of the aftermath, while they say Santos, is still coming up with excuses.

"It's very discouraging what happened and that he did not take responsibility,” says Tim Cavanagh, Attorney with Cavanagh Sorich Law Group, representing the plaintiffs.

Before taking a plea deal and being sentenced to 20 years in prison Monday, he told a Kosciusko County Judge he was mistreated by his father back home in the Dominican Republic, and that he has medical conditions to explain his behavior.

The judge didn’t buy it.

"Even if he had some medical conditions, that didn't cause him to drink the alcohol,” Cavanagh says. “He made a conscious decision to drink alcohol, was two times the legal limit, and made a decision that profoundly affected these young men's lives."

Twenty hockey players from St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago were injured in the crash, two of them gave victim impact statements in court.

"My son had a concussion for several months, broke a few bones in his face,” says Wendy Cook, mother of Alex Cook, who was injured in the crash. “All of those kids had some level of injury, whether physical or psychological through this."

Rewatching the video of the crash in court, Wendy Cook is reminded of how crucial the timing was, down to the second, especially when it comes to her son’s life.

"There's not a day that goes by that it doesn't flash through my mind what could have really happened, one second difference would have made it, it would have been completely different,” Cook says.

A guilty plea from Santos is just the first step in obtaining justice for the victims and their families, who still live with the trauma to this day.

"We wanted this moment of closure, we wanted our kids to learn about someone taking responsibility, and he certainly took no responsibility in this. It gave us closure, but it's something we're all going to live with,” says Cook.

Eighteen of those injured players, their parents, and two coaches have also filed a 98-count civil lawsuit against Santos, the trucking and busing companies involved, and the bus driver.

Cavanagh says now that Santos has pled guilty, they can take his deposition and hopefully take the case to trial in 2026.