Driver of truck crammed with immigrants had license issues

Associated Press

A long-haul truck driver arrested for driving a tractor-trailer so hot and so crammed with immigrants that 10 people died had his license to drive commercial trucks rescinded three months earlier.

Florida disqualified James Matthew Bradley Jr.’s commercial driving privileges April 12 after he failed to provide the state with a current medical card, which federal law requires commercial drivers to submit to show they are physically fit for the road.

Alexis Bakofsky, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, said it would have been illegal for him to have had an additional license from another state.

Authorities say Bradley’s truck was discovered Sunday morning in a Walmart parking lot crammed with dozens of immigrants. Ten of them died and many more were taken to the hospital and treated for dehydration and heat stroke.

Bradley, 60, faces charges of illegally transporting immigrants for financial gain resulting in death, possibly punishable by life in prison or the death penalty.

Florida records show that his medical card on file with the highway department expired March 15, and he was notified to update it. He never did.

Bradley’s fiancee, Darnisha Rose, told The Associated Press that he is from Florida originally but had been spending most of his time in Louisville, Ky., as his health worsened. Bradley had diabetes that he hadn’t properly treated, she said, and had to have a series of amputations, most recently the removal of his leg this spring.

Federal law requires commercial drivers to be screened by a doctor for serious medical conditions that might impair their ability to safely operate their vehicles.

“The medical card certification is extremely serious business. Drivers watch it like hawks because you can’t drive a truck without it,” said Kenneth S. Armstrong, the president of the Florida Trucking Association who reviewed Bradley’s driving record for The Associated Press. ”

Armstrong said the lack of a valid commercial license would have likely been caught had Bradley gone through an inspection station or been stopped by law enforcement.