Posted on 07/25/2012 6:14:42 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
BERCLAIR — Bloodstained pavement, gashed tree trunks and a twisted barbed-wire fence marked the end of a desperate journey.
On Sunday night, 22 Central Americans and their Mexican-born driver piled into a white Ford F-250 for what would be the last stage on their trip north. They crammed themselves into the truck's cab and lay down in its bed — one atop another — as the vehicle cruised along U.S. 59 between Beeville and Goliad.
By Monday, more than half were dead. Most died at the scene, and the others died at hospitals to which they'd been rushed after the overloaded truck careened off the road and slammed into a large, twin-trunked oak tree.
“It's certainly disturbing when you walk up and see the yellow and blue blankets that you know are covering victims, and realize that there are still five or six bodies in the vehicle because it's so badly damaged that they can't get them out,” Goliad County Judge David Bowman said.
It was the county's deadliest incident in recent memory, said Bowman, who performed the gruesome task of pronouncing 11 people dead at the scene. Three more died at hospitals Sunday and Monday. Among the dead was the driver.
Ten men and three women, two of them juveniles, all believed to be in the country illegally, traveled thousands of miles from Central America to have their lives end on this rural stretch of highway. Nine more were in hospitals across the state Monday evening, including five in San Antonio. According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, they came from Guatemala and Honduras. Officials said they were still working to identify the victims.
“Some of them are crossing on their own and are crossing the border on their own in very dangerous situations,” said Father Stan DeBoe, pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in Victoria. “Some die of exposure, and others are left to the elements. And then I would assume much like the group that was in the wreck, they were probably paying people very large amounts to bring them across. They come across in very large groups in dangerous vehicles.”
Berclair is about 40 miles from Victoria, the site of one of the country's deadliest smuggling incidents.
In 2003, 19 immigrants died in a trailer after the driver abandoned them at a truck stop. Trapped inside, they died of asphyxia, dehydration and hyperthermia.
The driver, Tyrone Mapletoft Williams, 41, a Jamaican immigrant, was sentenced to life in prison.
In April, nine immigrants were killed near Palmview in the Rio Grande Valley when the van in which they were being smuggled rolled over while fleeing the Border Patrol.
State officials charged a 15-year-old with murder, saying he was the vehicle's driver.
In both cases, ICE agents went on to round up and charge others they alleged were part of the smuggling organizations.
Like many highways in South Texas, U.S. 59 is used by human and drug smugglers, Goliad County sheriff's Capt. Tom Copeland said.
“It is a corridor from Laredo to parts north,” he said. “As far as it being a big smuggling corridor, it's easy access for them.”
The crash shut down U.S. 59 for hours north of Berclair, a ranching and oil town about 100 miles southeast of San Antonio.
DPS Trooper Gerald Bryant said tire failure might have caused the wreck.
The truck, registered to an owner in Houston who said he sold it a couple of months ago, wasn't being pursued, Bryant said.
Two adults and a young boy remained at University Hospital, a spokeswoman said Monday, but their conditions weren't available. Two other men were in critical condition at San Antonio Military Medical Center, a hospital spokesman said.
Most of the passengers were in the truck's bed, which didn't have a shell or any other covering, said Mary Jane Martin, public information officer for emergency management for the city and county of Goliad.
Bryant told the Associated Press that “this is the most people I've seen in any passenger vehicle, and I've been an officer for 38 years.”
The passengers in the truck's bed were “very cramped, lying on top of each other, in any which way they could fit,” Bryant said.
“With human smuggling, that is very common — just to load in as many people as they can,” he said.
Bowman, the county judge, included the victims in a prayer that opened Monday's Commissioners Court meeting.
He said a crisis intervention session was planned Monday night in Goliad to help emergency responders cope with what they saw.
“Any time you go out and you have to handle broken bodies, that can be traumatic for even the most seasoned responder,” he said.
The crash also shook nearby residents.
“It was just shocking for the whole town,” said Norma Jean Garcia, a clerk at the Berclair Country Store, which stayed open late Sunday to serve the law enforcement officers who worked the wreck.
“They had never seen something so ugly,” said Garcia, 51, who gave bottled water to the officers who reopened the highway after midnight.
The tragedy made national news of the town formerly best known as a favorite hunting site of then-President George H.W. Bush and for a supposedly haunted local mansion, said Country Store customer Dela Galindo, 62.
Now it will be known for one of the worst crashes in Texas history, residents said.
“It was horrible, especially since little children were involved,” Galindo said.
Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Death-was-last-stop-on-journey-for-packed-3726682.php#ixzz21dgJVKyE
The mexican driver is now one of the dead.
B.O.!
These retards say semi-automatic as though it were the embodiment of evil. They also mis-use the term assualt rifle every time they say it. They combine their own lack of knowledge with their ability to reach millions of people and totally distort the issues and mis-inform the public.
What a waste. That truck still had a long and useful life ahead of it.
Well said.
These are children of God.
There but for His grace, go I.
Obviously we need to enact legislation mandating warning labels (in Spanish of course) in the beds of all pickup trucks. That should solve the problem.
The glue sniffers and those drooling in cups agree.
Californica — I might have guessed...
You’re confused Tex...14 people riding around in a pickup endangering everyone on the road, costing Texans multiple millions happened in Texas, not CA.
That should happen to every vehicle moving illegals!!!!
You’re absolutely correct Tex. I was thinking of this thread below, where several hard core illegal alien sympathizers from Texas bled their hearts all over the thread.
At least 13 killed as truck loaded with 23 passengers slams into trees in Texas
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2909757/posts
“These are children of God”
Why stop with them? Let’s take care of the world.
They are invaders of this country. Nothing more and should be treated as such.
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