By Scott Calvert and Dan Frosch
Nine people died over the weekend in San Antonio after enduring
sweltering conditions inside a tractor-trailer that authorities
suspect was being used to smuggle them.
Rescuers found eight men dead inside the trailer early Sunday.
Another passenger, also an adult male, later died at a hospital,
officials said Sunday afternoon.
"We're looking at a human-trafficking crime here," San Antonio
Police Chief William McManus said at a news conference.
The driver of the big rig is in federal custody and will be
charged Monday, said Richard Durbin Jr., the U.S. attorney for
western Texas. James M. Bradley Jr., 60 years old, is being held in
federal custody in connection with the incident, according to a
statement from Mr. Durbin's office. The office didn't specify if
Mr. Bradley was the driver. It wasn't immediately clear if Mr.
Bradley had a lawyer.
Alton Bradley of Land O' Lakes, Fla., who said he is Mr.
Bradley's nephew, said his uncle has been a long-haul trucker for
decades. His uncle used to visit once or twice a year, depending on
his driving schedule, and the two would discuss what he was
hauling. "It was nothing out of the ordinary, regular stuff you
pick up from a vendor, a manufacturer, and drop off somewhere
else," Alton Bradley said. He last saw his uncle seven or eight
years ago.
Brian Pyle, the owner of Pyle Transportation, a trucking company
based in Schaller, Iowa, said Mr. Bradley had been his employee on
and off for about five years.
Mr. Pyle said he had recently sent Mr. Bradley, who bought his
own truck several months ago, down to Brownsville, Texas, to
deliver an empty trailer to a business Mr. Pyle had sold the
trailer to.
"He was friendly. He seemed like the kind of guy who would give
you the shirt off his back," Mr. Pyle said.
Mr. Pyle said Mr. Bradley had originally worked for his company,
which hauls meat and produce, as a driver. But he suffered from
diabetes and had to quit earlier this year for several months to
get his leg amputated. Mr. Pyle said Mr. Bradley returned to the
company recently after getting fitted for a prosthetic leg and had
since bought his own truck.
Mr. Pyle said he'd never had any issues with Mr. Bradley, and
was stunned to learn what had happened. "I'm shocked -- just
speechless," he said. He said he had spoken with him last Monday.
This was Mr. Bradley's first trip since returning to the trucking
company, Mr. Pyle said.
The male occupant who died at the hospital was among 30
individuals who were taken to area hospitals after rescuers pulled
them from the trailer, parked near a Wal-Mart store, an Immigration
and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman said.
Many were initially in serious or critical condition, San
Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood said Sunday. Paramedics reported
that people had high heart rates and were hot to the touch,
suffering from signs of heat stroke and dehydration, he said.
"The truck was loaded with people," he said.
A total of about 39 people were believed to be inside the truck,
including at least two school-age children, when rescuers arrived,
authorities said. Chief McManus said he didn't know the occupants'
countries of origin.
Police responded to the 18-wheeler after a man emerged from the
vehicle and approached a store worker, asking for water. Inside the
trailer, police and paramedics found eight people dead, and about
28 others among them, Chief Hood said.
One passenger fled but was found Sunday morning in a nearby
wooded area, prosecutors said.
Passengers are likely to be turned over to ICE for questioning
after they have been treated, Chief McManus said.
Mr. Durbin, the region's top federal prosecutor, said the people
in the trailer were "victims of ruthless human smugglers
indifferent to the well-being of their fragile cargo.""
"These people were helpless in the hands of their transporters,"
he said in a statement. "Imagine their suffering, trapped in a
stifling trailer in 100-plus degree heat."
The trailer wasn't air-conditioned and rescuers saw no sign
occupants had access to water.
The Wal-Mart's surveillance camera shows that a number of
vehicles had earlier arrived to pick up "a lot" of the people who
were in the trailer and survived the trip, Chief McManus said. He
said he didn't know where the truck began its journey.
"This is not an isolated incident; this happens quite
frequently," the police chief said, referring to human smuggling.
"It happens late at night, under darkness."
In fiscal year 2016, the Homeland Security Investigations arm of
ICE launched 2,110 human-smuggling investigations, yielding 1,522
criminal convictions, federal officials say. That same year the
unit made 2,734 criminal arrests and about 3,000 administrative
arrests linked to smuggling.
In 2003, 19 foreign nationals died after being smuggled inside
an insulated tractor trailer that was discovered abandoned at a
truck stop in Victoria, Texas. Police found 17 bodies in and around
the trailer, and two other occupants died at local hospitals. The
driver is serving a prison sentence of nearly 34 years without
possibility of parole.
In April, a 61-year-old Michigan man was sentenced to nearly six
years in prison after a federal jury in Texas convicted him of
trying to smuggle 10 people into the U.S. inside a locked rental
truck in 2016. All 10 survived.
Earlier this month in Houston, police rescued 12 people,
including a girl, from the hot cargo bay of a box truck after they
had spent hours banging on the wall for help. Three people were
charged with human smuggling, the local prosecutor said.
Miguel Bustillo and Jim Oberman contributed to this article.
Write to Scott Calvert at scott.calvert@wsj.com and Dan Frosch
at dan.frosch@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 23, 2017 23:07 ET (03:07 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.