13 killed when truck hits SUV carrying 25 people in California
El CENTRO, Calif. — A semitruck on Tuesday crashed into an SUV carrying 25 people on a Southern California highway, killing 13 and leaving others injured, authorities said.
California Highway Patrol Chief Omar Watson said 12 people died at the scene, which is about 11 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border, and another died after arriving at the hospital. Hospital officials earlier reported there were 15 killed and more people in the SUV.
Highway Patrol said it’s not clear what caused the crash between the SUV and a tractor-trailer full of gravel on a highway through fields in the agricultural southeastern corner of California, about 100 miles east of San Diego.
It’s unclear if the SUV had stopped at a stop sign before crossing into the path of the semitruck around 6:15 a.m., Watson said. The truck struck the left side of the SUV, which appeared to have been pushed off the road.
“Obviously, that vehicle’s not meant for that many people,” Watson said. “It’s unfortunate that that many people were put into that vehicle because there’s not enough safety constraints to safely keep those people in that vehicle.”
He said numerous people were ejected. The SUV was a Ford Expedition that would typically seat eight or nine people legally.
Macario Mora, a spokesman for Customs and Border Protection in Yuma and El Centro, said the Border Patrol was helping other law enforcement with the crash. He said the immigration status of those in the SUV was unknown and being investigated.
“It was an unusual number of people in an SUV, but we don’t know who they were,” Mora said, adding that they could have been farmworkers.
Bergdahl appeals: A former U.S. Army soldier who was court-martialed after he left his post in Afghanistan and was captured by the Taliban is asking a federal judge to overturn his military conviction, saying his trial was unduly influenced when former President Donald Trump repeatedly made disparaging comments about him and called for his execution.
Bowe Bergdahl filed the complaint in federal court in Washington, D.C., last month, asking a judge to overturn his court-martial conviction. Bergdahl says Trump’s statements and actions by the late U.S. Sen. John McCain and his military judge violated his Fifth Amendment right to a fair trial.
“The scandalous meddling in a specific case by leaders of the political branches — one of whom was Commander in Chief of the armed forces — would never be tolerated if the proceeding had been a criminal prosecution in this or any other federal district court and should not be tolerated in a court-martial,” Bergdahl’s attorneys wrote in the court filing.
Bergdahl was charged with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy after the then23-year-old from Hailey, Idaho, left his post in Afghanistan in 2009. The soldier maintained he was trying to get outside his post so he could report what he saw as poor leadership within his unit, but he was abducted by the Taliban and held captive for nearly five years.
Other U.S. troops took part in a lengthy search for Bergdahl, and several sustained serious wounds during the search efforts. Bergdahl was ultimately returned as part of a prisoner swap negotiated by then-President Barack Obama in 2014.
Voting restrictions: The U.S. Supreme Court appeared ready Tuesday to uphold voting restrictions in Arizona in a key case that could make it harder to challenge a raft of other voting measures Republicans have proposed following last year’s elections.
All six conservative justices, appointed by Republican presidents, suggested they would throw out an appellate ruling that struck down the restrictions as racially discriminatory under the landmark Voting Rights Act. The three liberal members of the court, appointed by Democrats, were more sympathetic to the challengers.
Less clear is what standard the court might set for how to prove discrimination under the law.
The outcome could make it harder to use the Voting Rights Act to sue over legislation that creates obstacles to voting in the name of election security.
Congressman accused: An independent ethics body says there is “substantial reason to believe” that Republican Rep. Steven Palazzo of Mississippi abused his office by misspending campaign funds, doing favors for his brother and enlisting staff for political and personal errands.
The allegations against the congressman were included in a 47-page report by the Office of Congressional Ethics that was made public Monday.
The House Committee on Ethics, which reviews reports from the OCE and decides whether to take action against lawmakers, is reviewing the matter.
A Palazzo spokeswoman, Colleen Kennedy, said the congressman “welcomes the opportunity to work through this process” and said the investigation stemmed from “false allegations made by a primary opponent.”
Media workers shot dead: Three women who worked for a local radio and TV station in eastern Afghanistan were gunned down Tuesday in separate attacks, the news editor of the privately owned station said.
Shokrullah Pasoon, of Enikass Radio and TV in Jalalabad, said one of the women, Mursal Wahidi, was walking home when gunmen opened fire, according to witnesses.
The other two, whom Pasoon identified only as Shahnaz and Sadia, were shot and killed in a separate incident, also walking home from work.
Pope to visit Iraq: The Vatican is defending Pope Francis’ decision to go ahead with his trip to Iraq this weekend despite rising coronavirus infections there, saying Tuesday all health care precautions have been taken and that the trip is an “act of love for this land, for its people, and for its Christians.”
Francis is due to visit Iraq from Friday to Monday in his first foreign trip since the pandemic erupted last year. Planning for the trip went into high gear after infections fell, but cases have spiked in the past month and infectious disease experts say a papal trip to a country with a fragile health care system simply is not a good idea.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni noted that Iraq has a predominantly young population, that the current daily caseload was small compared with the overall population. He said all papal events would follow Iraqi health protocols that include limited participation, social distancing, mask mandates and other measures.