Sherman bus crash fallout: “Rubber stamp” bus inspections put all motorists at risk

The Texas Department of Public Safety has announced that three men from 5-Minute Inspections were arrested this month in relation to the Sherman bus crash tragedy that killed 17 people and injured 38 others.

The men, Cesar Hernandez, 27, Ernesto Bastard, 19, and Miguel Castillo, 49, were arrested on charges of tampering with a government document.  The charge, a second-degree felony, carries a punishment of up to 20 years in prison.

The company 5-Minute Inspections is being investigated under suspicion that it did not actually see all of the vehicles for which it issued inspection certificates.  According to DPS investigators, the company certified hundreds of vehicles a month.  The bus involved in the Sherman crash may have been one that was certified without being seen.

If the bus had been properly inspected, the unlawful tire retread and other problems that contributed to the crash may have been found before so many lives were lost.  The horror of this terrible tragedy is made worse by the fact that it could have been prevented if people had only been doing their jobs properly.

DPS has been criticized in the federal government’s investigation of the crash for failing to provide adequate oversight of the inspection and registration process for buses.  Changes to the way buses and other vehicles are inspected in Texas should change as a result of these findings – although it is too little too late for the victims and their families.