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Republican legislator tied to fatal bus crash; hires undocumented aliens for Louisiana flood relief
Republican state Rep. David Wallace of Leachville, a current candidate for state Senate, has been identified as the owner of a company that rounded up a group of workers, apparently undocumented aliens, for flood relief work in Louisiana, including one with a poor driving record who was at the wheel in a fatal bus crash on Interstate 10.
Two were killed, including a local fire chief, and 41 injured in the crash.
USA Today reports here on a story broken by WWL-TV in New Orleans. Here's the WWL account.
WRS, an Arkansas company registered to three men — including Eddie Schmidt, the elected Ward 4 constable for St. Tammany Parish; and David Wallace, a state legislator from Leachville, Ark. — had a man round up potential workers. Wallace told The New Orleans Advocate that WRS hired a bus to take the work crew to a commercial job site in the Baton Rouge, La., area.
The driver of the bus, Denis Yasmir Amaya Rodriguez, 37, of Honduras, had been doing work for the man and construction jobs in the past year for Schmidt’s company. It’s unclear why Amaya ended up driving the bus rather than the bus company, Kristina’s Transportation, providing a driver.
Amaya had been stopped for various moving violations at least five times in the past four years, always without a driver’s license, The Advocate reported. The state police cited him Aug. 5 for driving without a license on I-10 in Metairie, La.
The driver of the bus, Denis Yasmir Amaya Rodriguez, 37, of Honduras, had been doing work for the man and construction jobs in the past year for Schmidt’s company. It’s unclear why Amaya ended up driving the bus rather than the bus company, Kristina’s Transportation, providing a driver.
Amaya had been stopped for various moving violations at least five times in the past four years, always without a driver’s license, The Advocate reported. The state police cited him Aug. 5 for driving without a license on I-10 in Metairie, La.
Read more: http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2016/08/30/arkansas-legislator-tied-to-fatal-bus-crash-in-louisiana
[font color=330099]It also turns out that the bus driver was unlicensed. The lawyers have told Wallace to stop talking.[/font]