Driver Allegedly Claims He Didn’t Know He Was Smuggling People in Incident that Left 10 Dead

The man who allegedly drove the truck in which eight people were found dead in Texas early Sunday morning allegedly told investigators he didn’t know his vehicle was carrying people, according to a U.S. Department Attorney’s Office press release.

James Matthew Bradley, 60, has been charged with one count of transporting illegal aliens. Two people later died in the hospital, and more than 30 people were injured, many of them suffering from dehydration and other heat-related illnesses.

Bradley allegedly told officials he stopped in the parking lot of a San Antonio Walmart where he heard banging and shaking coming from his tractor-trailer, according to a federal complaint filed this morning.

“He was surprised when ‘he was run over by Spanish people and knocked to the ground,’ ” the affidavit states. “He realized that one person was dead. He said he knew the trailer refrigeration system did not work and that the four vent holes probably were clogged,” the press release states.

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