OCALA, FL (352today.com) – The Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) has charged the driver of a truck in connection with a deadly bus crash in western Marion County.

Troopers arrested 41-year-old Bryan Maclean Howard and charged him with eight counts of driving under the influence DUI manslaughter Tuesday afternoon.

The accident happened around 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning on State Road 40, killing eight and injuring approximately 40 others.

Investigators say Howard was driving a 2001 Ford Ranger truck. They say his truck collided in a “sideswipe manner” with a bus carrying 53 farm workers. FHP says the bus then veered off the road, crashed through a fence and overturned into a pasture.

The 2001 Ford Ranger truck that troopers say sideswiped with the farm bus on State Road 40. Courtesy: AP Photo/Alan Youngblood
Troopers say the farm bus and a Ford Ranger collided, sending the bus off the road and into a fence where it overturned. Courtesy: MCFR

A check of Marion County’s jail records shows Howard has been in and out of the jail at least seven times since 2005. His charges range from drug possession to grand theft and driving with a suspended or revoked license.

|REAL TIME REPORTING: State Road 40 reopens following deadly bus crash

Troopers say the bus was headed to Cannon Farms in Dunnellon. The farm’s website says they began harvesting watermelons last weekend. The farm closed Tuesday out of respect for the lives lost.

Authorities say the crash killed 8 and injured approximately 40 farm workers on the bus. Courtesy: MCFR
Emergency personnel respond to the scene of a deadly crash on Tuesday, May 14, 2024 near Dunnellon. Courtesy: AP Photo/Alan Youngblood
The Florida Highway Patrol says a bus carrying more than 50 farmworkers overturned, killing 8 and injuring dozens of others in Marion County on Tuesday, May 14, 2024. Courtesy: WFTS via AP