FHP: Van that crashed, killing seven, may have been overloaded

CBS 47 Jacksonville, FL WTEV Online ^ | Last Update: 4/2/2004 9:43:23 AM | ©2004 Associated Press

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) - The van in a rollover crash that killed seven Mexican migrant workers and injured another 12 appeared overcrowded and the driver did not have the appropriate license, authorities said Friday.

A day after the crash ejected all 19 occupants and scattered bodies across Interstate 95, Florida Highway Patrol officials were trying to identify the victims, most of whom had no official identification.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

Close the borders, please.

[Support Free Republic]

Rank	Location	Receipts	Donors/Avg		Freepers/Avg		Monthlies
27	Washington	110.00	4	27.50			310.00	18

Thanks for donating to Free Republic!

Move your locale up the leaderboard!

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

MAY have been overloaded???

[kittymyrib]

NINETEEN men in a van that MAY have been overloaded...DUH! The body odor alone would have been a killer.

[sarasmom]

So I guess this means yet another car insurance rate increase is in the works for all the legal, law abiding citizens of Florida.

[Fitzcarraldo]

They were fleeing the economic oppression of the evil Vincente Fox. /sarcasm

[Enterprise]

"FHP: Van that crashed, killing seven, may have been overloaded"

19? Overloaded? How could anyone think that?

[Ramius]

Close the borders, please.

Close the Florida borders? uh...

[xJones]

"Close the borders, please."

Frith said authorities were looking into why the van appeared to have more occupants than seats and the responsibility of the driver and Circle H. Citrus. The driver did not have the appropriate license for driving for hire, Frith said.

It will do no good to close the borders if companies are allowed to hire illegal aliens.

[TYVets]

" MAY have been overloaded??? "

A terrible thing

While reading it, i suddenly realized the van was NOT called a SUV.

.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

Imagine if they had rolled over a family all strapped in...

This story has been on my mind all day. We heard about it here because 95 was shutdown and traffic was being rerouted.

So...no license, did the workers enter the U.S. legally? The van was waaaay overcrowded, no seatbelts for many of the passengers, etc. How many passes are we supposed to give to folks who break the LAW???

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

You know...I'm all for "manning the rails."

[skeeter]

One things for sure regarding the injured - their employers won't have to bear the cost of their injuries.

Really pisses me off.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

yup

[1rudeboy]

I have an open question for all the journalists lurking here: If we are to presume that "migrant worker" is the currently-acceptable term for "illegal alien," then what the heck do you plan on calling a (legal) migrant worker?

[Ramius]

You know...I'm all for "manning the rails."

I know what you mean... but we do have to live in the world of the possible. I wish we could actually "seal the borders". Reality though, is that the U.S. has 22,000 miles of "border". Sealing it is just slightly harder than sealing the equator.

The point that many in the "seal the borders" crowd don't want to admit is that the only way to enforce immigration means hardening ALL of the country and not just the borders themselves. We couldn't get away with a hard shell and soft squishy middle. For those that would inevitably come across or come ashore and get into the interior of the country the only way to catch them is to set up checkpoints all across the country and issue National ID cards so that citizens could "prove" that they really belong here.

I'm not sure I want to live like that.

[livius]

Who knows - judging by the place where the van rolled, they were probably fern harvesters or some similar miserable job. While I'm not in favor of illegal immigration, I think we could all say a prayer for them. They were human beings, after all.

[upchuck]

Why did you excerpt this?

[vavavah]

you in FLA?