FORT PIERCE, Fla. — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Monday that a truck driver accused of making an illegal U-turn that killed three people in Florida was in the country illegally.
Harjinder Singh made the illegal turn last Tuesday from northbound lanes of Florida's Turnpike about 50 miles north of West Palm Beach, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. A minivan was unable to avoid the truck's trailer, which was blocking the northbound lanes.
Two passengers in the minivan died at the scene and the driver died at a hospital. Singh and a passenger in his truck were not injured.
Much of Singh's immigration history was not immediately clear Monday, including his country of citizenship and whether and when he obtained legal status. Florida authorities said he entered the U.S. illegally from Mexico in 2018.
Scripps News Group is getting answers for you about the triple fatal crash on the Florida Turnpike near mile marker 170.
Investigators said the undocumented truck driver was attempting to make an illegal U-turn when the minivan crashed into the trailer.
Three people — ages 30, 37 and 54 — were killed.
The driver of the semi-truck, Harjinder Singh, was arrested on Saturday.
Troopers said they worked with ICE and found out Singh illegally crossed the Mexican border into the United States in 2018.
“You never make a U-turn, not even on residential streets, boulevards, and especially where it's prohibited, on a freeway like that," said James Lewis, a transportation safety expert with Evidence Solutions, who said the illegal U-turn Singh made on the Turnpike was unacceptable.
Fort Pierce
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“You never make a U-turn, not even on residential streets, boulevards, and especially where it's prohibited, on a freeway like that,” said Lewis. “Even if nothing happens from it, the point that you did it is so dangerous, you're going to be terminated on the spot.”
After coming to the U.S illegally, crossing the Mexican border in 2018, Homeland security said Singh obtained a commercial drivers license (CDL) in California.
Lewis said California’s CDL requirements are less strict than many other states.
According to the California DMV, drivers need a minimum of 15 hours of road training and to submit a California Commercial Driver Behind The Wheel Training Certification.
California, which is one of 19 states, in addition to the District of Columbia, that issue licenses regardless of immigration status, according to the National Immigration Law Center. Supporters of such policies say driver's licenses provide a lifeline for people to work, pick up children from school, visit doctors and travel safely.
Responding to a post about the fatal crash on X, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, said: “This is exactly why in June, I announced a nationwide audit of non-domiciled CDL’s!”
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for Homeland Security, said issuing a commercial license to someone in the country illegally is “asinine."
Newsom's press office, which has been in a heated online war of words over congressional redistricting, responded on the X platform that Singh obtained a work permit while Donald Trump was president. McLaughlin disputed that, saying the government denied him a permit during Trump's first term in September 2020 and granted him one in June 2021, under President Joe Biden.
Scripps learned a non-domiciled CDL allows foreign workers to operate commercial vehicles. However, they do need legal work authorization.
Scripps is still working to find out if Singh’s CDL was valid at the time of the crash last Tuesday.
“We're going to see a lot more of this,” said Lewis. “ This has only happened over the last four or five years, so it's just a matter of time before this happens on a much more continual basis, much more regular basis.”
Singh is charged with three counts of vehicular homicide and state officials said after his criminal case plays out, he will be deported.
