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Punjab-origin truck driver held for killing 3 in California crash
21-year-old Jashanpreet, an illegal immigrant, was allegedly under the influence of drugs at the time of the accident.
Punjab-origin truck driver Jashanpreet Singh, 21, from Yuba City has been arrested for causing a crash on California’s 10 Freeway in Ontario on October 21, leaving three people dead and four injured.
According to initial reports, Jashanpreet was allegedly under the influence of drugs at the time of the accident.
The dashcam footage of the accident on social media shows how Jashanpreet’s semi-truck rammed into slow-moving traffic, leaving three people and at least four others injured. In the video, it was evident that the driver lost control as he failed to apply brakes.
The California Highway Patrol said Jashanpreet’s semi-truck ploughed into slow-moving traffic on Interstate 10 in San Bernardino county.
Toxicology test reports suggested Jashanpreet was under the influence of a banned substance at the time of the crash. However, the official confirmation on this is yet to be made public. He now faces multiple charges on the suspicion of driving under the influence (DUI) causing bodily injury and gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.
Meanwhile, the department of homeland security said that Jashanpreet was an illegal immigrant and was caught and released at the California border by the Joe Biden administration in March 2022. It is learnt that the US immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) is placing a detainer request on him with the San Bernardino county sheriff’s department, where he is in custody.
The four injured people included Jashanpreet and a mechanic, who was changing a tyre on the side of the freeway when the accident happened. As a consequence of the fatal crash, the westbound lanes of the freeway in Ontario were closed for nearly 12 hours on Tuesday.
The accident comes two months after Harjinder Singh, 28, was arrested for making an illegal U-turn in his truck-trailer on August 12 in Fort Pierce, Florida, causing a minivan to crash into the trailer, killing all three occupants. Harjinder and a passenger in his truck escaped unhurt.
Two weeks after the Florida crash, US secretary of state Marco Rubio paused the issuing of work visas for foreigners looking to become commercial truck drivers in the US. An estimated 1.5 lakh Sikhs work in the trucking industry in the US, 90% of whom are drivers. As many as 30,000 Sikh drivers joined the industry between 2016 and 2018.
The incident sparked off concerns of a backlash and stereotyping, leading the Punjabi diaspora to seek the Government of India’s intervention.
