The Latest: Driver's commercial license was suspended
By Associated Press
Jul 25, 2017 2:40 PM CDT
James Mathew Bradley Jr., 60, of Clearwater, Fla., left, arrives at the federal courthouse for a hearing, Monday, July 24, 2017, in San Antonio. Bradley was taken into custody and is expected to be charged in connection to the people who died after being crammed into a sweltering tractor-trailer found...   (Associated Press)

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — The Latest on the deaths of 10 people whose bodies were found in a broiling tractor-trailer in a Walmart parking lot in San Antonio (all times local):

2:30 p.m.

The state of Florida had suspended commercial driving privileges for a truck driver three months before he was arrested for driving a tractor-trailer so hot and so crammed with immigrants that 10 people died.

Alexis Bakofsky, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, confirmed Tuesday that the agency disqualified 60-year-old James Matthew Bradley Jr.'s commercial driving privileges in April when he failed to file an updated medical card. Federal law requires commercial drivers supply the card to show they are physically fit for the road.

Bradley's driving record shows he was issued a commercial driver's license in Florida in 2004. Bakofsky confirmed the Florida license was disqualified indefinitely. Bakofsky also says it would have been illegal for him to have held a second license from another state.

Bradley faces charges of illegally transporting immigrants for financial gain resulting in death. The immigrants were found inside his truck at a Walmart in San Antonio.

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2 p.m.

Court records show that a long-haul truck driver charged in the deaths of 10 immigrants found inside his sweltering tractor-trailer in San Antonio had been cited repeatedly for violating federal motor carrier safety regulations in Iowa dating back to 1995.

At least two of the tickets were for logging more hours than allowed.

James Matthew Bradley Jr.'s most recent infraction came in April 2013. He was ticketed for violating a rule that bars truckers from driving longer than 14 hours without a break. The citation shows that he was driving for Pyle Transportation. He was fined $127.50.

The records show Bradley also received tickets for violations of federal safety rules following stops or inspections in 2011, 2010 and 1995. They included a "maximum hours of service violation" for driving too much without rest in 2010.

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12:15 a.m.

A long-haul truck driver charged in the deaths of 10 immigrants found inside his sweltering tractor-trailer called his fiancee Sunday from a jail more than 1,000 miles from home and briefly described the gruesome events.

Darnisha Rose says James Matthew Bradley Jr., who she called a generous person, claimed he had no idea how so many people came to be crammed inside his trailer in the Texas heat.

The 60-year-old Bradley, a diabetic whose criminal history includes a conviction in a felony domestic violence case, told Rose that he'd stopped his truck at a San Antonio Walmart and went inside to use the bathroom. He claimed that when he returned to his truck, he noticed the trailer rocking back and forth.

He said he'd heard nothing before that.

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12:02 a.m.

Mexico's foreign ministry says 25 of the migrants found inside a sweltering tractor-trailer found parked outside a Texas Walmart were Mexican.

In a statement Monday night, the ministry says that based on interviews by Mexican consulate personnel and contact with local authorities, "we can say that of the 10 people who lost their lives ... four were of Mexican nationality."

The statement also says that of the 29 people hospitalized, 21 are Mexican.

Also Monday, the man charged with driving the rig appeared in federal court in San Antonio.

James Matthew Bradley Jr. faces charges of illegally transporting immigrants for financial gain, resulting in death. The judge explained to Bradley that he could face the death penalty, if convicted.

In the federal complaint, Bradley told authorities he didn't realize anyone was inside the 18-wheeler.

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