Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 25 July 2017
Iowa firm tied to truck deaths has history of legal problems

The company and its driv- hired one of the compa-
er insist they know noth- ny’s former drivers, James
ing about how dozens Matthew Bradley Jr. of
of immigrants became Clearwater, Florida, as an
packed inside the trailer of independent contractor to
its 18-wheeler, which was drive the trailer to a drop-
found parked in the searing off point in the border city
heat outside a San Antonio of Brownsville, Texas.
Walmart over the week- Pyle showed a reporter a
end. Ten of those passen- copy of what he said was
gers died and more than a bill of sale, dated May
15 others were hospitalized 10, which contained no
with extreme dehydration, sales price. Pyle declined
with one passenger telling to identify the purchaser or
investigators people were say where in Brownsville the
taking turns breathing from trailer was to be delivered.
a hole inside the trailer. The county treasurer’s of-
Pyle Transportation owner fice declined to say wheth-
Brian Pyle denied knowl- er paperwork transferring
edge of any human smug- the truck’s title had been
gling and expressed shock filed.
and bewilderment over Bradley was charged Mon-
how so many people could day with transporting im-
have been crammed into migrants who were in the
James Mathew Bradley Jr., 60, of Clearwater, Florida, center, is escorted out of the federal court- a trailer that had his name United States illegally, re-
house following a hearing, Monday, July 24, 2017, in San Antonio. Bradley was arrested in connec- on it. sulting in the deaths. Brad-
tion with the deaths of multiple people packed into a broiling tractor-trailer. “I’m absolutely sorry it ley told investigators that
(AP Photo/Eric Gay) happened. I really am. It’s he was transporting the
shocking,” Pyle said out- trailer for his boss from Iowa
By RYAN J. FOLEY tax violations and financial to drivers and has been or- side the company’s ram- to Brownsville, and made
SCOTT McFETRIDGE problems, public records dered to pay major penal- shackle office near the some stops along the way.
Associated Press Writers show. ties for violations of federal tiny downtown of Schaller, He said he was unaware
SCHALLER, Iowa (AP) — The Pyle Transportation Inc. safety rules, records show. Iowa, a village of 750 in the people were inside until he
small, family-owned Iowa failed to pay federal em- The IRS and others who say rural northwestern part of parked and got out to uri-
trucking company linked ployment and trucking tax- the company owes them the state. nate.
to the deadly case of im- es for years, faced lawsuits money have often found He said he had reached The driver claimed he was
migrant smuggling in Texas from Iowa labor regulators no assets available to gar- a deal to sell the trailer to not given a delivery time or
has a history of safety and over unpaid wages owed nish.
a person in Mexico and address. q

Highway Patrol: 2 dead, 6

hurt in South Dakota crash

By JAMES NORD Highway Patrol spokes-
Associated Press man Tony Mangan had
ALCESTER, S.D. (AP) — Two no immediate information
people were killed and about the conditions of
six others hurt when an the injured, whom he said
81-year-old woman drove were taken to hospitals in
into a group of people and Sioux Falls and Hawarden,
then into a nursing home Iowa, and Sioux City, Iowa.
Monday in southeast South Alcester, a town of about
Dakota in an apparent ac- 800 people, is about 40
cident, authorities said. miles (64 kilometers) south
The woman, who had of Sioux Falls.
pulled into a driveway Jayson Pullman, chief ex-
close to the building, ap- ecutive of Hawarden Re-
pears to have stepped gional Healthcare, said
on the gas instead of the four of the injured were
brakes, hitting seven peo- treated at his hospital. He
ple who were exiting Al- said he believed three had
cester Care and Rehab been returned to the nurs-
Center with a 2001 Pontiac ing home, with the fourth
Grand Prix, the state High- transferred by helicopter to
way Patrol said in a state- another hospital.
ment. Authorities said the The other hospitals said
driver — who hasn’t been they could provide no in-
identified — was among formation without patient
those injured, a group that names. None of the victims
also included center em- of the crash were immedi-
ployees and residents. ately identified. q