Dayton ISD Bus Driver Arrested After a 14-Year-Old Student Was Struck on U.S. 90: What the Felony Charge Means and the Six-Month Notice Rule for Texas School Districts

What Happened on U.S. 90 in Dayton?

The Dayton Police Department says the collision happened between 6:15 and 6:30 a.m. on Friday, October 16, 2026, near the eastbound intersection of U.S. Highway 90 and Stilson Road in Dayton, in Liberty County. Police said they believe a vehicle struck a juvenile and that the driver failed to stop and render aid. Investigators asked anyone with dashcam or security video from eastbound U.S. 90 that morning to contact the department.

The student is a 14-year-old eighth grader at Woodrow Wilson Junior High who plays on the school football team, according to ABC13 Houston, which spoke with his father. He was flown to a Houston hospital and his family described him over the weekend as fighting for his life. This article does not name him.

Police arrested Ricky Eugene Cherry, 70, of Dayton, the same day. News coverage identifies him as a Dayton ISD bus driver, and KPRC 2 reported that police had not confirmed what vehicle was involved. ABC13 reported that investigators said a school bus struck the student, and the Montgomery County Police Reporter reported the same from the district’s preliminary information. ABC13 reported that jail records list a charge of collision causing serious bodily injury. The investigation is continuing, and a charge is an accusation rather than a finding: Mr. Cherry is presumed innocent unless and until a court decides otherwise, and nothing here assumes what the evidence will show.

Dayton ISD Superintendent Travis Young said in a statement that the district’s thoughts are with the student and the family, that the student’s parents were notified, that the district is working with first responders and law enforcement, and that counselors are available to students and staff. The district said it would not release further details out of respect for the family’s privacy and because the investigation is active.

What the Charge Covers Under Texas Law

Chapter 550 of the Texas Transportation Code sets out what a driver must do after a collision that injures or may have injured someone: stop immediately at or as near to the scene as possible, return to the scene if the vehicle was not stopped there, determine whether a person needs help, give identifying and insurance information, and render reasonable assistance, including arranging transport for treatment when it is apparent that treatment is needed. Under Section 550.021, leaving the scene of a collision that results in serious bodily injury, as that term is defined in Section 1.07 of the Penal Code, is a felony of the third degree in Texas, which carries a possible prison term of two to ten years and a fine of up to $10,000. If a collision results in death, the offense rises to a second-degree felony.

Two points matter for everyone involved. First, the criminal case belongs to the State of Texas. The Liberty County District Attorney decides whether and how to prosecute, and a sentence, if one comes, punishes the driver; a court can order restitution, but the criminal case is not the same thing as a family’s own claim for a child’s medical care and future needs. Second, the charge is about leaving the scene, not about who caused the collision. Fault for the impact itself is a separate question that the crash investigation, and any civil case, examines on its own evidence. Anyone arrested on this kind of charge is entitled to a lawyer, and experienced criminal defense attorneys describe the first hours after an arrest as the point where a defense lawyer’s involvement does the most to protect a person’s rights.

Who Can Be Affected

The student and his family are the people this reaches first, and a catastrophic injury to a child brings costs that arrive long after the news coverage stops: emergency and rehabilitative care, schooling and accommodations, lost income for a parent who stays at the hospital, and future care needs that nobody can size up in the first week. Classmates and staff who saw the aftermath are also affected, which is why the district said counselors were made available.

A collision on a school route can reach other families too. When the vehicle involved is operated by a school district, questions about driver qualification and supervision, route and stop design, bus camera and GPS records, and district reporting practices tend to follow, and those records belong to the district rather than to the family. Witnesses who were driving eastbound on U.S. 90 that morning are being asked for video by the Dayton Police Department.

What Kind of Claim or Option Might Apply

Texas law treats a claim against a school district very differently from a claim against a private driver or a private company. Under the Texas Tort Claims Act, governmental immunity is waived only in limited circumstances. Section 101.051 states that, except as to motor vehicles, the Act does not apply to a school district or a junior college district. In other words, a motor-vehicle claim is the narrow category in which Texas law allows a district to be sued at all, which is exactly why the question of what vehicle was involved is a legal question and not only a factual one. Section 101.023 limits the money damages recoverable from a unit of local government under the Act to $100,000 per person and $300,000 per single occurrence for bodily injury or death.

Other possibilities can sit alongside that one. If the driver was in a personal vehicle rather than a district vehicle, a claim would look to that driver and to the applicable auto insurance instead, including any uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage a family carries. Health insurance, school accident coverage, and crime-victim compensation through the Texas Attorney General’s office are separate systems with their own rules and their own forms. Which of these is available in a specific case turns on facts that are not yet public, and a personal injury lawyer can review the police report, the district’s records and the insurance policies and explain which routes exist for one particular family.

Why Acting Quickly Can Matter

The deadline most families do not expect is the notice requirement. Section 101.101 of the Texas Tort Claims Act says a governmental unit is entitled to receive notice of a claim against it not later than six months after the day the incident occurred, and that the notice must reasonably describe the injury claimed, the time and place of the incident, and the incident itself. Subsection (c) provides that the requirement does not apply where the governmental unit already has actual notice that a death occurred, that the claimant received some injury, or that property was damaged. Subsection (b) ratifies shorter notice periods set by a city charter or ordinance, so in some matters the window is tighter still. Whether a district had actual notice, and what a particular charter requires, are questions lawyers litigate; six months from October 16, 2026 falls on April 16, 2027.

The general limitations period for a personal injury suit in Texas is two years under Section 16.003 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, and separate rules can apply to a claim brought on behalf of a minor. That longer period does not replace the notice step above. Evidence has its own clock as well: bus camera footage, GPS and telematics data, dispatch recordings and nearby business or residential video are often overwritten within weeks unless someone asks that they be preserved. A lawyer can send preservation letters early, which is usually the practical reason the first days matter more than the first year.

Sources

1. Bluebonnet News — Dayton Police Department account of the October 16, 2026 collision, the arrest of Ricky Eugene Cherry, 70, and the district statement.
2. ABC13 Houston — the student’s age and school, the family interview, investigators on the vehicle involved, and the charge listed in jail records.
3. KPRC 2 Houston — the time and location of the collision and the note that police had not confirmed the vehicle involved.
4. Montgomery County Police Reporter — the district’s preliminary information and the updated Dayton ISD statement.
5. Texas Transportation Code Chapter 550 — the duty to stop and render aid and the offense levels in Section 550.021.
6. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 101 — the Texas Tort Claims Act, including Section 101.051 on school districts, Section 101.023 on damage limits, and Section 101.101 on notice of a claim.