Boy, 13, who was driving truck that smashed into USW van killing himself, his dad, six students and their golfing coach 'was Mennonite who accidentally burned his house down

Daily Mail UK ^ | March 17, 2022 | Janon Fisher and Adam Manno

[Morgana]

A 13 year-old boy blamed for a crash that killed himself, his dad, six students and their golf coach set his house ablaze shortly before Christmas, a family friend has claimed.

The unidentified youngster, killed alongside eight other people in Andrews, Texas, on Tuesday, burned down his family's home after leaving eggs unattended on a stove, family friend Aganetha Siemens said.

'Just before Christmas, their house burned down,' she said. 'The 13-year-old made some eggs and forgot about it.'

She is not related to the boy or his dad, Heinrich Siemens, 38. Heinrich was a father of five, with his family part of the Mennonite church.

The youngster was driving the family's Dodge truck when it crossed the median onto the wrong side of the road, slamming into a bus carrying eight University of the South West golf students, with six of those golfers and their coach all killed.

Aganetha told DailyMail.com: 'I couldn't imagine going through all that and then to have this happen,' she said. 'It's just so sad.' She added that no-one had been hurt in the blaze.

Funeral services are being planned at the Mennonite Evangelical Church in Seminole, Texas, where the family lives.

Two male students were pulled from the wreckage of Tuesday's crash alive and airlifted to hospital.

The NTSB revealed the age of the driver on Thursday, but have yet to identify him. They said that the car the boy was driving suffered a front-left tire blowout, and that that tire was a spare.

They have not offered further information on why he was driving, how he was related to Siemens.

The legal driving age in Texas, where the fatal accident took place, is 16 years old.

[bethelgrad]

Yep you’re correct. Also known as the radical reformers.

[Lean-Right]

My son, though I almost hate to admit it,
created a flash fire while attempting
to cook some French fries. He threw a
a glass of water on a flaming pot of
hot oil. Everything in the kitchen 4 feet
up got so hot it melted the exhaust screen
in the hood vent, and the ceiling fan
blades melted to 180 degrees. Cupboard
doors and wallpaper charred black.
The wife and I returned from a shopping
trip and noticed smoke rolling out the
front door as we pulled up.
I taught my son to drive when he was
12. All off road stuff. We set up a course
complete with a four way stop, 3 point
turns, and parallel parking. He didn’t
get to drive on the street until he
passed his driver’s test.
I’m not defending this kid who was
driving on a public road, under age,
without a license. Hard to tell if his
basic driving skills were up to the task.
But anyone faced with a blowout at
highway speeds is at the mercy of how
the vehicle is going to react. Many
experienced legal drivers die from
this occurrence. I blame the owner of
the truck for faulty/bad equipment.
The two most important components of
any vehicle are good tires and brakes.

[BobL]

I hear you. I like to make helicopter parent comments, and heck, if the kid was 17 I would have said the same...more an indictment on present-day parenting and our society than on a particular parent. After all, virtually all of us grew up free to roam the streets starting at about age 6, or at least I did and everyone that I knew. School’s over for the day, we’d go out to who knows where, and as long as we were home before dinner, our parents were fine. The idea of parents arranging a ‘play-date’ is sickening to me, we just rang doorbells to hang with our friends. I also remember having to stand on a chair to cook my own breakfast (the stove top was high and recessed a bit, but still I was probably 7 or 8 at the time).

One time one a tour in a 3rd World Country a 6 year old gets on our (rickety) tour bus, does some of a ‘magic trick’ for us in his crappy English, collects his tips, and then hops off several miles down the road. The Karens on the tour bus freaked out, figuring he was as good as dead. I knew that every adult out there knew this kid and he wasn’t going to have any trouble, and is likely still doing the same thing. And the thing was, all of the Karens grew up with the same level of supervision as that kid - but they’re so far removed from that culture that they don’t even realize it.

[nitzy]

The craziest part of it is that his nickname was “Lucky”.