 "Authorities have said Jashanpreet Singh did not hit the brakes and that toxicology reports showed that he had drugs in his system. Image courtesy: X/@DigitalGal_X")
An Indian-origin truck driver has been accused of causing a deadly crash on a US freeway that left three people dead and four hospitalised.
Jashanpreet Singh, a 21-year-old illegal immigrant, was arrested on the suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs. Singh, who caused a massive pile-up in California’s Ontario, has been charged with driving under the influence of drugs, causing bodily injury and gross vehicular manslaughter.
The incident comes months after another illegal immigrant from Punjab killed three people while taking an illegal U-turn on a US freeway in Florida.
But who is Singh? What do we know about him and the accident?
Let’s take a closer look.
What we know
According to authorities, Singh illegally crossed the US southern border in 2022 . Though he encountered border patrol agents in California’s El Centro and was held by the authorities, Singh was released by the Biden administration under its ‘alternatives to detention policy’. Under that scheme, illegal immigrants were released pending a deportation hearing.
Singh has been living in northern California’s Yuba City. The incident occurred on the 10 Freeway in San Bernardino County on Tuesday afternoon. Authorities say that Singh was driving a big rig under the influence of drugs when the incident occurred.
Dashcam footage of the incident from Singh’s vehicle shows it smashing into the back of an SUV
as well as multiple other vehicles, including four commercial trucks. In all, eight vehicles were involved in the pile-up which left fiery wreckage and caused major traffic issues. A roadside mechanic helping with a tyre change was among the injured. All the victims were adults.
“It didn’t stop. It didn’t swerve. It didn’t make any kind of manoeuvres. It just went straight in,” an eyewitness to the crash said. “The truck rolled and veered to the right into the embankment, and I saw the truck driver jump out because it was on fire.”
Authorities say that Singh did not hit the brakes and that toxicology reports
showed that he had drugs in his system.
Police arrived on the scene and took Singh to the hospital.
“He was eventually transported to the hospital, and he was checked out by the medical staff, and our officers determined he was driving under the influence of drugs,” California Highway Patrol (CHP) Officer Rodrigo Jimenez was quoted as saying by ABC7 News.
What next for Singh?
The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (USICE) has sought Singh’s custody after the Department of Homeland Security confirmed his status as an illegal immigrant. Singh is being held in San Bernardino County without bail. He will be produced today at the Rancho Superior Court in Rancho Cucamonga.
The CHP says it remains unclear whether Singh held a valid commercial driver’s licence at the time of the incident.
Singh’s friend Malhar told CBS, “He’s an amazing guy. … He would talk normally, happily, always with love and care. Coming from India, it’s gonna be hard to make dollars here. … So, he wanted to keep going.”
“This is exactly why @USDOT has withheld USD 40 MILLION (Rs 3.34 billion) from California for failure to comply with our rules to protect drivers. We cannot allow our roads to be a dangerous place!” Duffy wrote on X.
California Governor Gavin Newsom is a huge critic of President Donald Trump.
The US Transportation Department tightened commercial driver’s licence requirements for non-citizens after a few crashes this year that officials said were caused by immigrant truck drivers.
The announcement was made by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on X last month.
“Effective immediately, we are pausing all issuance of worker visas for commercial truck drivers. The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on US roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers,” Rubio wrote.
The State Department said this was done “in order to conduct a comprehensive and thorough review of screening and vetting protocols used to determine the qualifications for a US visa.”
This came weeks after Harjinder Singh, on August 12, made an illegal turn on Florida’s Turnpike – resulting in a minivan crashing into the truck’s trailer.
Two passengers in the minivan died, and the driver died at a hospital. Harjinder and his passenger were not injured. Harjinder was charged with three counts of vehicular homicide. He lived in California, but Washington issued his original commercial licence before he got one in California. Harjinder will be transferred to ICE custody as soon as his criminal case ends.
Florida has sued both California and Washington over the incident. The suit alleges that the states “chose to ignore these standards and authorise illegal immigrants without proper training or the ability to read road signs to drive commercial motor vehicles.”
The fallout fuelled a verbal tussle between Newsom and the Trump administration. Duffy earlier this year signed an order stating that commercial motor vehicle drivers would not be allowed to continue their jobs if they cannot meet the threshold for English proficiency.
With inputs from agencies