In Chicago, a truck driver involved in a DUI crash that left the Saint Ignatius College Prep hockey team injured has been given a 20-year prison sentence. The incident took place in 2022 in Warsaw, Indiana.
Victor Santos, the truck driver, decided to plead guilty to the charges related to the crash. A total of twenty players on the bus sustained injuries as a result of the collision.
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Parents, coaches, and survivors shared impact statements – and their frustration over what they say was a lack of accountability.
“All we heard in there was excuse after excuse,” one parent said outside court. “The judge didn’t buy it. We think it was an appropriate sentence.”
After factoring in time already served and other considerations, Santos is expected to serve a term between 12.5 and 15 years. His defense team had mentioned supposed health problems and a challenging childhood in the Dominican Republic as mitigating circumstances, but the families of the victims found these explanations unconvincing.
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“There was no medical testimony. Even if he had health problems, it didn’t cause him to drink. He made a conscious decision,” said a parent. “He was twice the legal limit. Seconds mattered that night.”
“There’s not a day that goes by that it doesn’t flash through my mind,” one parent said. “One second different, and we could be standing here under very different circumstances.”
Lawyers say they are now able to move forward with a civil lawsuit.
ABC News contributed to this report.
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