Driver charged in truck deaths
Trucker claims he did not realize anyone was inside 18-wheeler
SAN ANTONIO — The driver of a broiling tractor-trailer found packed with immigrants outside a Walmart in San Antonio was charged Monday in 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., 60, 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 people took turns breathing through a hole and pounding on the walls to get the driver’s attention.
Bradley appeared in federal court on charges of illegally transporting immigrants for financial gain, resulting in death. The Clearwater, Florida, man was ordered held for another hearing Thursday.
He did not enter a plea or say anything about what happened. But in court papers, he told authorities he didn’t realize anyone was inside his rig until he parked and got out to relieve himself.
Over the weekend, authorities discovered eight bodies inside the crowded 18-wheeler parked in the summer heat, and two more victims died at the hospital. Nearly 20 others rescued from the rig were hospitalized 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. 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 criminal complaint.
Bradley told investigators that he knew the trailer refrigeration system didn’t work and that the four ventilation holes were probably clogged. He also said he did not call 911, even though he knew at least one passenger was dead.
The truck was registered to Pyle Transportation Inc. 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.
Latin Americans who enter the United States illegally often hire smuggling networks to guide them across the border by foot or raft, put them in safe houses and then give them rides to their destination in the U.S.
“Even though they have the driver in custody, I can guarantee you there’s going to be many more people we’re looking for to prosecute,” said Thomas Homan, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.