Authorities in Florida have released bodycam video from first responders arriving at the scene of a rollover crash involving a bus carrying farm workers in Florida left eight people dead and over 40 others injured Tuesday morning.
The crash happened around 6:30 a.m. on West Highway 40 near Ocala in Marion County.
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Florida Highway Patrol officials said the crash involved a 2010 International Bus transporting 53 farm workers and a 2001 Ford Ranger pickup truck.
Marion County Fire Rescue officials said eight people were killed, and another eight were critically injured.
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Another 37 people suffered non-life threatening injuries, officials said. The driver of the pickup was among those hospitalized, officials said.
Bodycam video shows the bus overturned as first responders tried to help the victims inside. Dozens of people could also be seen outside of the bus in a nearby field being attended to by officials.
Debris from the crash could also be seen scattered on the ground as multiple MCFR units responded to the scene.
Later Tuesday, FHP troopers arrested the driver of the pickup, Bryan Maclean Howard, on eight counts of DUI manslaughter, officials said.
Howard, who has a long record of dangerous driving, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday and remains jailed without bond for the crash.
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He told a judge by teleconference from jail Wednesday 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.
According to his arrest report, troopers say Howard had bloodshot and watery eyes and slurred speech after the crash, which he said he didn’t remember.
Howard then failed several sobriety tests and was arrested, the FHP said.
Meanwhile, Mexico’s consulate was working Wednesday to support the seasonal farmworkers, who had been on their way to harvest watermelons at Cannon Farms in Dunnellon when the accident happened at about 6:40 a.m. Tuesday, about 80 miles north of Orlando.
The Mexican consulate in Orlando was working to provide support at the AdventHealth Ocala hospital, where many of the injured were taken.
Six of the dead have been identified: Evarado Ventura Hernandez, 30; Cristian Salazar Villeda, 24; Alfredo Tovar Sanchez, 20; Isaias Miranda Pascal, 21; Jose Heriberto Fraga Acosta, 27; and Manuel Perez Rios, 46.
The cofounder of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Lucas Benitez said consular officials told them the farmworkers who died were from at least five different states in Mexico.
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.
