2023-05-08 11:56:00
At least eight people died and 10 were injured last Sunday (7) after they were hit by a vehicle in the city of Brownsville, Texason the US-Mexico border, in front of a migrant aid center.
Security forces said the incident was currently being treated as an accident, but a witness told AFP that the driver shouted insults at the group before accelerating the vehicle.
“We received a call about a gray SUV that ran a red light and hit several people. We confirmed that seven people died and others were taken to the hospital,” Brownsville City Police spokesman Martin Sandoval told AFP.
The local press reported hours later that one person succumbed to his injuries and died in hospital, bringing the death toll to eight.
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The officer said people were waiting at a bus stop when they were run over. Sandoval said some fatalities were migrants.
“The driver of the vehicle has been detained, he is in custody, but we took him to the hospital because he had multiple injuries,” the spokesman said. The man will be prosecuted for dangerous driving, but he could also face other charges, according to police.
Luis Herrera, a 36-year-old Venezuelan man with an injured arm, told AFP the accident happened “suddenly”.
“A woman drove by and warned us to get out of the way,” he said. “It was a matter of seconds. The killer came with the car, gesturing at us, insulting, saying things like ‘motherfucker’ (son of a bitch), I don’t know, stuff like that I don’t understand,” she said.
“He accelerated and brushed past me,” he added.
“We are not saying it was intentional. At the moment we are treating it as an accident,” the police spokesman insisted.
asylum applications
The incident took place as the US government prepares to suspend a measure known as “Title 42”, which was adopted during the Covid-19 pandemic and allowed border patrol agents to deport or refuse entry to migrants without even examine asylum applications.
The imminent end of the norm raises fears, among authorities, of an increase in the number of migrants illegally entering the southern United States.
The center of Brownswille has seen a large presence of migrants in recent weeks, who are released there after surrendering to border patrol.
The victims of the hit-and-run were among a group of 25 people waiting at a bus stop, according to Victor Maldonado, executive director of Centro Ozanam, a shelter for the homeless across the street from the accident.
The group, which according to Maldonado was made up only of Venezuelans, had just had breakfast at the facility. He described a terrifying scene with body parts along the street. Witnesses were “really in shock,” he told AFP.
The homeless center remains open 24 hours a day, explained Maldonado. He said that the place receives people who migrated from Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, China, Ukraine and Venezuela.
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