Father, not 13-year-old boy, drove truck in Texas crash that killed nine, officials say

Head coach and six memnbers of University of Southwest’s golf team died in March accident

A father, not his 13-year-old son, drove a truck that was involved in a horror crash with a van in Texas that killed nine people, according to officials.

Several members of the University of the Southwest’s golf team were killed in the crash in March, and a report by the NTSB now says that the blood of the 38-year-old driver of the truck tested positive for methamphetamine.

The university’s men’s and women’s golf team was traveling back to Hobbs, New Mexico, from a tournament in Midland, Texas when the crash took place.

The team’s coach and six students in the van died, as well as the truck driver, Henrich Siemens, and his teenage passenger, who officials initially stated in a preliminary report had been behind the wheel. Two other students were seriously injured.

The report states that the accident happened when the Dodge 2500 truck crossed into the northbound lane and crashed head-on into the university’s Ford Transit van. Both vehicles caught fire in the incident and were completely destroyed.

The NTSB says that their probe of the crash found no evidence that the truck’s front left tyre suffered any loss of pressure or major failure leading to the accident.

The accident took place in Andrews County, which is 30 miles east of the Texas border with New Mexico.

Following the crash the university victims were identified as head coach Tyler James, 26; Mauricio Sanchez, 19, of Mexico; Travis Garcia, 19, of Pleasanton, Texas; Jackson Zinn, 22, of Westminster, Colorado; Karisa Raines, 21, of Fort Stockton, Texas; Laci Stone, 18, of Nocona, Texas; and Tiago Sousa, 18, of Portugal.

The name of the 13-year-old victim was never made public.

The University of the Southwest is a private Christian school in Hobbs, New Mexico.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.