A truck driver with “no remorse” for the accident was sentenced to more than 22 years on Monday  after colliding with a bus full of juvenile hockey players. 

Truck driver Victor Santos, of Brooklyn, New York City, New York, pleaded guilty to 26 counts each of criminal recklessness, and causing serious bodily injury while operating a vehicle on Monday, May 5th in Indiana. 

According to CBS News, Santos was driving a semi truck in a reckless manner on the night of November 12th, 2022. Santos was operating the commercial vehicle at high speeds around 90 mph, and ignored a red light in the moments before hitting the bus full of Saint Ignatius College Prep hockey team players. 

The collision caused the bus to overturn, injuring 20 people, mostly students between the ages of 14 and 17. At least one student was ejected from the bus, and three people were considered critically injured. All of the crash victims survived the incident. 

At the time of the accident, Santos was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, and it was later discovered his BAC was twice the legal limit in Indiana. Witnesses described him as appearing emotionless with “no remorse.”

“I stared him straight in the eyes then and today,” said Wendy Cook, mother of one of the 15 year olds, on the day of Santos’s sentencing. “He showed no remorse — no recognition of the pain he put everyone through that night — and it was the same look today.”

“Today is another step in the healing process for our families, for our students, and certainly for our community,” said John Chandler, president of Saint Ignatius College Prep.

“He did not accept responsibility for all this harm he caused these young men, these families,” said Attorney Tim Cavanagh. Cavanaugh is representing eighteen players, their parents, and two coaches in a 98-count civil suit against Santos and two trucking companies. The suit states that the truck driver and companies showed willful disregard for the safety of the people on the bus. That case is still pending, reported Fox 32.

Santos’s initial hearing was postponed in November 2022 due to language barriers and difficulties finding an interpreter. At the rescheduled hearing, he requested a reduction of his bond. 

Santos had previously been convicted of rape in 1999, and multiple FMCSA violations. He will now serve 22 and a half years in prison as part of a plea deal. He has been credited with the two and a half years already served since his arrest in November 2022.