Driver pleads not guilty in bus crash that kills 8 farmworkers

OCALA, Florida (AP):

Mexico’s consulate in central Florida was working Wednesday to support a community of farmworkers after a highway collision killed eight Mexican citizens and injured 40 other people who were on their way to pick watermelons. A Florida man pleaded not guilty to driving under the influence-manslaughter after authorities said his pickup truck sideswiped their bus.

Alicia Bárcena, Mexico’s foreign relations secretary, said via the social media platform X late Tuesday that all eight people killed were in the US on H-2A farmworker visas. Florida farms use about 50,000 H-2A workers each year, more than any other state, according to the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Wednesday morning that 44 of the farmworkers on the bus were Mexican citizens, hired by a Mexican-American farmer to work on the watermelon farm under temporary or seasonal visas. He did not release any more information on the victims, out of consideration for their relatives, he said.

The Mexican consulate in Orlando was working to provide support at the AdventHealth Ocala hospital, where many of the injured were taken. The Florida Highway Patrol said names of the people who died would be released after relatives were notified.

Andres Sequera, a director of mission and ministry for AdventHealth hospitals, said chaplains were visiting the injured workers, and they “were in good spirits for what they have been through.”

“We were able to provide support, presence, prayer when it was asked of us,” Sequera told reporters.

DUI CHARGES

The Florida Highway Patrol arrested the pickup truck’s driver, Bryan Maclean Howard, 41, on eight counts of driving-under-the-influence-manslaughter. The agency did not release more details, such as what substance allegedly left Howard impaired.

Howard told a judge by teleconference from jail Wednesday morning that he’s a self-employed painter and drywall installer with $700 in the bank, no other assets and no dependents. Howard’s 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 later entered a written plea of not guilty.

State records show he had previous arrests, accused of driving with a suspended license, leaving the scene of an accident and marijuana possession. It wasn’t clear who might comment on Howard’s behalf. Several phone numbers at residences linked to him were non-working.

The accident happened at about 6:40 a.m. Tuesday, about 80 miles (130 kilometres) north of Orlando as the workers were going to Cannon Farms in Dunnellon. Troopers say Howard was driving a 2001 Ford Ranger that crossed into the centre line on State Road 40, a two-lane road that passes through horse farms. The vehicles sideswiped and the bus veered off the road, plowing through a fence, hitting a tree and rolling over.

“Thank you to all who have reached out and offered condolences, help and prayers” for the people hurt in the crash, Cannon Farms said in a post on its Facebook page that described the accident as happening at the Olvera Trucking Harvesting Corp, which contracted the workers to pick its watermelons.