Body camera video from a November traffic stop shows a trooper struggling to communicate with 40-year-old Juan Hernandez-Santos.
Still image from Washington State Patrol body camera video of a commercial vehicle inspection in November 2025. The driver, Juan Hernandez-Santos, was later involved in a serious collision with a school bus and several other vehicles on I-5 weeks later.
A truck driver accused of causing a pileup crash on Interstate 5 in Lacey in December had been ordered by troopers to stay off the road weeks earlier, newly released records show. Body camera video from a November traffic stop shows a trooper struggling to communicate with 40-year-old Juan Hernandez-Santos.
“Do you understand me? ” the trooper asks Hernandez-Santos.
“You don’t have a commercial driver’s license, you don’t have a medical card, you don’t have a logbook — you can’t drive. ” After following him to a nearby truck stop, the trooper issued more than $1,000 in citations and gave Hernandez-Santos a stern warning to stop driving his car-hauling semitruck.
Weeks later, the Washington State Patrol alleges Hernandez-Santos was behind the wheel of the same semitruck and slammed into the back of a school bus on Interstate 5 during the morning commute. His truck also hit four other vehicles, closing the freeway for hours. The bus did not have students on board at the time of the crash. Four people were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
Tacoma-based attorney Mark Lindquist said it is concerning Hernandez-Santos was allowed to remain with his truck after so many violations were found during the November stop.
“One of the more disturbing aspects of this case is that a Washington state trooper would accept the word of a rogue driver that he won’t get back on the road,” Lindquist told KOMO News. “That makes no sense. ” “Based on the facts as I understand them, this driver should have been arrested. The vehicle should have been impounded,” he added.
“That is in the interest of public safety. ” “All vehicles are potentially dangerous weapons, but a commercial vehicle is doubly dangerous to everyone on the road,” Lindquist said.
“We need those drivers to be competent. ” Court records show Hernandez-Santos has years of poor driving history, including a hit-and-run crash and multiple DUI convictions. In the pileup crash, he was cited in Thurston County District Court for driving without a commercial driver’s license. According to a DHS news release DHS alleges their detainer request for Hernandez-Santos was not honored and he was released from the Thurston County Jail before agents could take him into custody.
"He was a walking public safety threat and illegally was driving a massive 18-wheeler when he caused a six-car pile-up involving a school bus on the highway in Washington,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin wrote in the news release. “Thankfully, no children were in the bus. This story could have had a very different tragic ending. The sanctuary politicians in Washington failed once again to protect American citizens by refusing to honor our ICE arrest detainer.
”Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson and her staff may want a do-over after a viral incident caught on camera last week. Human remains found in Tukwila backyard; investigation underway Human remains were discovered in the backyard of a Tukwila property on Tuesday, and an investigation is underway, police said. Police said a white van was driven into the parking lot and, shortly afterward, officers nearby heard an explosion from the van.
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