Man With Meth in His System Drove Truck That Killed 9, Officials Say

A 38-year-old man with methamphetamine in his system — not his 13-year-old son — was driving a truck in Andrews County, Texas, in March that struck a van, killing nine people, including himself, the boy, six members of a college golf team and its coach, the authorities said on Thursday.

The National Transportation Safety Board​ said at a news conference that information at the time of the crash had led officials to believe that the 13-year-old was behind the wheel of the truck. But DNA test results later identified his father as the driver. Toxicological testing revealed the presence of meth in the man’s blood, officials said.

The man had been previously identified by officials as Henrich Siemens. The boy’s name has not been officially released.

Officials did not elaborate on what specifically had led them to conclude that Mr. Siemens was the driver.

Robert Molloy, director of the N.T.S.B.’s Office of Highway Safety, said that both vehicles went up in flames in the March 15 collision, which made determining who had been driving the truck more difficult.

“This was a very high energy collision,” Mr. Molloy said. “As a result of that, there was a lot of catastrophic damage to the vehicle.”

It was unclear at what speeds the vehicles were traveling, but Mr. Molloy said that the speed limit in the area was 75 miles per hour.

Officials said it was unclear how much meth was in the man’s system.

“Certainly, we know that meth can affect driver performance,” Mr. Molloy said. “At this point, it’s too early to say” if the drug had a role in the crash.

At a news conference in March, N.T.S.B. officials said that the truck’s left front tire was a spare that had blown out before the truck veered into a lane that the golf team’s van was traveling in and struck the van head-on.

The ongoing investigation into the crash has not found any evidence of a sudden or rapid loss of air pressure to the front left tire, or any indicators of its “catastrophic failure,” the N.T.S.B. said in a statement on Thursday.

The van was carrying members of the University of the Southwest golf team. The team’s coach, who was driving, and six players died in the crash. Two other players were seriously injured.

The university identified the victims in March as Tyler James, the coach, and the student-athletes Travis Garcia, Karisa Raines, Mauricio Sanchez, Tiago Sousa, Laci Stone and Jackson Zinn. Most of the golfers were freshmen at University of the Southwest, a private, Christian institution in Hobbs, N.M., near Texas’ border.