Trucker charged over 10 deaths in sweltering vehicle
Officials feared the death toll could rise because nearly 20 others rescued from the rig were in a dire condition.
The driver of a sweltering tractor-trailer found packed with immigrants outside a Walmart in San Antonio has been charged over the deaths of 10 of his passengers and could face the death penalty over the hellish journey.
In outlining their immigrant-smuggling case against James Matthew Bradley Jr, federal prosecutors depicted the trailer as pitch-black, crammed with around 90 people or more by some estimates, and so suffocatingly hot that one passenger said they took turns breathing through a hole and pounding on the walls to get the driver’s attention.
Bradley, from Clearwater, Florida, appeared in federal court on charges of illegally transporting immigrants for financial gain, resulting in death. The 60-year-old did not enter a plea or say anything in court about what happened.
Bradley was assigned a public defender and ordered held for another hearing on Thursday.
Over the weekend, authorities discovered eight bodies inside the crowded 18-wheeler parked in the summer heat, and two more victims died in hospital. Officials feared the death toll could rise because nearly 20 others rescued from the rig were in dire condition, many suffering from extreme dehydration and heatstroke.
Bradley told investigators that the trailer had been sold and he was transporting it for his boss from Iowa to Brownsville, Texas. He said he did not realise people were inside until he parked and got out to relieve himself.
After hearing banging and shaking, he opened the door and was “surprised when he was run over by ‘Spanish’ people and knocked to the ground”, according to the complaint.
Bradley was quoted as telling investigators that he knew the trailer refrigeration system did not work and that the four ventilation holes were probably clogged. He also said he did not call emergency services, even though he knew at least one passenger was dead.
The truck was registered to Pyle Transportation of Schaller, Iowa. President Brian Pyle said that he had sold the truck to a man in Mexico and that Bradley was an independent contractor who was supposed to deliver it to a pick-up point in Brownsville.
“I’m absolutely sorry it happened. I really am. It’s shocking. I’m sorry my name was on it,” Mr Pyle said, referring to the truck.
He said he had no idea why Bradley took the looping route he described to investigators.
Bradley told authorities that he had stopped in Laredo, Texas – which would have been out of his way if he were travelling directly to Brownsville – to get the truck washed and detailed before heading back 150 miles north to San Antonio. From there, he would have had to drive 275 miles south again to get to Brownsville.
“I just can’t believe it. I’m stunned, shocked. He is too good a person to do anything like this,” said Bradley’s fiancee, Darnisha Rose, of Louisville, Kentucky. “He helps people, he doesn’t hurt people.”
