A man with a long record of dangerous driving told investigators he smoked marijuana oil and took prescription drugs hours before he sideswiped a bus, killing eight Mexican farmworkers and injuring dozens more, according to an arrest report unsealed on Wednesday. Bryan Maclean Howard, 41, pleaded not guilty to driving under the influence manslaughter and remained jailed without bond for Tuesday\u2019s crash. The Florida Highway Patrol says he drove his 2001 Ford pickup into the centre line on a two-lane road and struck the bus, causing it to veer off the road, strike a tree and flip over.<\/p>\n
The seasonal farmworkers were on their way early in the morning to harvest watermelon at Cannon Farms in Dunnellon, about 80 miles (130 kilometres) northwest of Orlando in north-central Florida\u2019s Marion County, a rural area of rolling hills with numerous horse farms and abundant fruit and vegetable fields. The Mexican consulate in Orlando was working to support the victims, meeting with some at a hotel in Gainesville. Many were taken to AdventHealth Ocala Hospital. Juan Sabines, the Mexican consul in Orlando, told Spanish language news media that seven workers, three of whom were in critical condition, remained hospitalised as of Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Sabines said they had contacted the families of the eight workers who were killed in the crash. He also said inspectors from the Wage and Hour Division from the US Department of Labour were performing inspections at the work site, and the consul encouraged workers to call the Occupational Safety and Health Administration with anonymous tips if they had anything to report about the employer. The Department of Labour did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. Sabines said he spoke with the 44-year-old bus driver, also a Mexican man with a visa.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat he needs the most immediately is help with his mental health,\u201d Sabines said. In the pickup truck driver\u2019s arrest report, state troopers say Howard had bloodshot and watery eyes and slurred speech after the crash, which he said he didn\u2019t remember. He told an investigator that he had crashed his mother\u2019s car into a tree while avoiding an animal a few days earlier, and that on Monday night he had taken two anti-seizure drugs and medication for high blood pressure in addition to smoking marijuana oil. He said he woke up about five hours later and was driving to a methadone clinic where he receives daily medication for a chipped vertebrae, according to the affidavit.<\/p>\n
Howard then failed several sobriety tests and was arrested, the Florida Highway Patrol said. Responding to a judge by teleconference from jail on Wednesday, Howard said he\u2019s a self-employed painter and drywall installer with USD 700 in the bank, no other assets and no dependents. Howard\u2019s head was bandaged and he wore a protective gown typically given to inmates on suicide watch. The judge denied bond, appointed a public defender and set his next court appearance for next month. Howard\u2019s parents did not immediately respond to a Wednesday phone message seeking comment, and the Marion County public defender\u2019s office declined comment.<\/p>\n
Marion County court records show Howard has had at least three crashes and numerous traffic tickets dating back to 2006, including one citation for crossing the centre line. His license has been suspended at least three times, the latest in 2021 for getting too many citations within a year. In 2013, he was convicted of grand theft. A year later, his probation was revoked after he tested positive for cocaine. Mexican President Andr\u00e9s Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Wednesday morning that 44 Mexican farmworkers were on the bus, hired by a Mexican American farmer to work on the watermelon farm under H-2A visas.<\/p>\n
Florida farms use about 50,000 H-2A workers each year, more than any other state, according to the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association. Six of the dead have been identified: Evarado Ventura Hern\u00e1ndez, 30; Cristian Salazar Villeda, 24; Alfredo Tovar Sanchez, 20; Isa\u00edas Miranda Pascal, 21; Jose Heriberto Fraga Acosta, 27; and Manuel P\u00e9rez R\u00edos, 46. Jose Ventura told Univision that Evarado Ventura Hernandez was his younger brother, and he had helped him come to work in the United States. He said his brother left behind a young daughter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just came for a better future, but now you can see what we found. We found death,\u201d he told the Spanish-language broadcaster. He sobbed as he added, \u201cI was supposed to take care of my brother because he was the youngest.\u201d His sister, Norma Ventura Hern\u00e1ndez, said she was angry. \u201cWe are totally destroyed and it\u2019s not right,\u201d she said. \u201cLet justice be done, and don\u2019t allow all these deaths to go unpunished.\u201d More than two dozen people gathered at a memorial service for the victims Wednesday evening outside the Farmworker Association of Florida office, north of Orlando in Apopka, Florida. Some people held white crosses with the names of those killed, some spoke and some sang songs in Spanish.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you to all who have reached out and offered condolences, help and prayers\u201d for the people hurt in the crash, Cannon Farms said in a Facebook post. It said the bus was operated by Olvera Trucking Harvesting Corp. No one answered the phone at Olvera Trucking after the crash. The company recently advertised for a temporary driver who would bus workers to watermelon fields and then operate harvesting equipment, at USD 14.77 an hour. A Labour Department document shows Olvera also applied for 43 H-2A workers to harvest watermelons at Cannon Farms this month, again at a base rate of USD 14.77 an hour, with promises of housing and transportation to and from the fields.<\/p>\n
The H-2A programme allows US employers or agents who meet certain regulatory requirements to bring foreign nationals into the country to fill temporary agricultural jobs. Getting to and from the fields can be hazardous: Federal statistics show vehicle crashes were the leading cause of job-related deaths among farmworkers in 2022, the latest year available. They accounted for 81 of 171 fatalities. Olvera\u2019s vehicle, which the highway patrol described as a \u201cretired\u201d school bus, did not have seat belts, Mexican consul Sabines said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The Labour Department announced new seat belt requirements for employer vehicles used for farmworkers on temporary visas, among other worker protections that take effect June 28. Florida law already requires seat belts for farmworker transport using vehicles weighing less than 10,000 pounds. The Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association has called the new federal seat belt requirement \u201cimpractical.\u201d Advocacy groups called for stricter laws and enforcement to protect farmworkers, while a GoFundMe campaign organized by the Farmworker Association of Florida to support accident victims and their families had raised nearly USD 58,000 by Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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