West Palm truck driver who died in I-75 Gainesville crash had history of traffic tickets

Palm Beach Post (FL)

Jan. 06--A West Palm Beach truck driver believed to have caused a deadly, multi-car crash near Gainesville on Thursday was issued several traffic tickets in Palm Beach County over the past decade, court records show.

Steve Holland, 59, appears to have started a series of crashes that left seven people, including himself, dead on Interstate 75, Florida Highway Patrol reports. Holland drove a semi-truck that veered off the road in a wreck that involved five vehicles, including a church van full of children headed to Walt Disney World, according to a crash report.

Holland received 10 traffic tickets in Palm Beach County between 2003 and 2007, according to court records. While most of the citations were minor, including for failing to show proof of insurance or wear a seat belt, two tickets were issued for careless driving and speeding in 2003 and 2004, respectively.

Holland's record includes traffic citations from Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Virginia, the Associated Press reports. The tickets were issued for speeding, driving an unsafe vehicle, driving an overloaded vehicle and not carrying proof of insurance, the AP reports based on a review of court records.

Holland was headed northbound on I-75 near the exit at Northwest 39th Avenue, near Santa Fe College and northwest of the University of Florida campus, when he veered into the path of a northbound Honda. Both vehicles crashed through the guardrails into the southbound lanes, where they collided with church van and another semi-truck. A nearby pickup truck was also involved in the wreck, Florida Highway Patrol reports.

Holland, a truck driver originally from Albuquerque, N.M., and five children from the church van were killed. The five were from a Pentecostal church in Marksville, La., the Associated Press reported. They were identified as Joel Cloud and Jeremiah Warren, both 14; Cara Descant, 13; Brieana Descant, 10; and Cierra Bordelan, 9. Also killed was truck driver Douglas Bolkema, 49, of Albuquerque. Eight others were seriously injured.

Holland's Facebook page indicates that he worked as a contract mail carrier for the Illinois-based trucking company Eagle Express Lines. The company could not be reached for comment Friday, but its Facebook page confirmed that one of its tractor-trailer drivers had died, though it never specifically identified Holland.

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