Unlicensed driver arrested after car carrier nearly flips on I-5, sending 3 to hospital

A lot more details have come out in the hours after a fully-loaded car carrier nearly flipped over on northbound I-5 while going way too fast for conditions. The crash blocked the freeway for several hours.

Quickly recapping what happened, the big rig was heading north on I-5 when the driver failed to realize traffic was slowing in front of him. While trying to avoid rear-ending a school bus, the driver made an evasive maneuver that backfired.

“The semi tried to avoid the collision by switching lanes, they were in the far right lane,” Washington State Patrol (WSP) Trooper Kameron Watts said. “The semi attempted to go left, but instead it was an overcorrection, and due to the conditions of the roadway, which were really wet at the time, it was raining, caused the truck to jackknife.”

The truck hit several cars, including the school bus. Fortunately, the school bus didn’t have any kids on board. Three people were sent to the hospital.

Troopers from the Commercial Vehicles Division were brought in, and it quickly became clear that the driver should not have been behind the wheel.

“The driver of the semi did not possess a valid commercial driver’s license from out of the country or within the United States,” Watts said.

The driver did not have insurance or a valid medical card either.

The driver has been identified as 40-year-old Juan Hernandez-Santos of Mexico. I asked Watts if there were any language barriers in speaking with the driver. He did not get back to me on that. The trucking company is from California.

Hernandez-Santos was arrested and taken to the Thurston County Jail. He’s still listed on the roster there, as of this reporting. He was arrested on suspicion of driving without a commercial license, which is a gross misdemeanor, but the charge listed this morning is DWLS, driving with a license suspended in the first degree, which comes with an automatic 10 days in jail if convicted.

The question everyone has is simple. How in the world does someone without a valid license get behind the wheel of a fully loaded car carrier?

“It really baffles me how someone got hired at a commercial vehicle company, if they’re even legit,” Watts said. “This is something I’m still investigating myself and trying to get down to the bottom of.

This is now part of the national story of commercial drivers being put out of service for not being able to speak English or driving without proper qualifications or licenses.

There have been several high-profile cases recently, including crashes with multiple fatalities and injuries.

Chris Sullivan is a traffic reporter for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of his stories here. Follow KIRO Newsradio traffic on X.

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