The National Transportation Safety Board says it is analyzing the cell phone records of Jack Young, 20, the driver of the pickup that swerved into the oncoming lane of Highway 83 in Uvalde County last week and slammed head on into a church bus, killing 13 people, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
"Cell phone records have various sources of data," Jennifer Morrison, the lead NTSB investigator, told News Radio 1200 WOAI during a briefing on the investigation. "Certainly incoming and outgoing calls, as well as any Internet messaging at the time or around the time of the crash."
A witness told News Radio 1200 WOAI on Friday that he came upon the crash after seeing Young's pickup driving erratically and says Young told him that he was texting at the time of the wreck.
Morrison says that is part of the investigation."We have started to review some of the pickup truck drivers actions leading up to the time of the crash," she said. "We are also talking with people who knew the pickup driver or who may have seen him around the time of the crash."
The only survivor from the First Baptist Church of New Braunfels bus remains hospitalized. Young was released from University Hospital this afternoon.
Morrison says officials have ruled out equipment failure on either vehicle as having any possible role in causing the crash. She says toxicology sample have also been taken from Young and from the driver of the church bus, who was killed, and are being analyzed.
The NTSB also tweeted that it is trying to decode material from the sensors in the airbags of both vehicles which gauge things like the vehicle speed at the time of the accident. The agency said that the impact made the modules unreadable on the scene, but hopes to gather some information under further analysis.
The NTSB also revealed that Young was not wearing a seat belt, but all of the church members were wearing seat belts at the time of the wreck.
But, especially in light of Young's statements to the witness, it appears that the phone records will be the most valuable resource.
"We have cell phone records and content from both drivers cell phones," she said. "It will be collected and will be analyzed."