(Alan Wooten, The Center Square) Questions from a triple fatality on the Florida Turnpike about 50 miles north of West Palm Beach are centered on Harjinder Singh’s citizenship status, a work permit, and where he obtained a commercial driver’s license.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the office of California Gov. Gavin Newsom do not agree on eligibility. Not in dispute are the charges and arrest detainer.
The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles said Singh, driving an 18-wheeler, tried to U-turn on the Florida Turnpike through a point in the divided highway marked “official use only.” The speed limit at mile marker 171 is 70 mph.
Homeland Security’s link to video from Breaking911, shot from inside the truck, shows the graphic collision that followed.
A Chrysler Town & Country minivan slams into the trailer that suddenly blocked its lanes. All three inside the minivan were killed – a 30-year-old man from Florida City driving, and a 37-year-old woman from Pompano Beach and a 54-year-old man from Miami.
Singh was not injured. He is facing three counts of vehicular homicide.
Homeland Security says Singh does not have a legal right to be in the United States and obtained a commercial driver’s license in California. The Florida Highway Patrol said he crossed the Mexico border into California in 2018.
On Monday, the U.S. Marshals Service said Singh, 28, was arrested in Stockton, Calif., on Saturday. He and a passenger in the truck flew to Sacramento on Wednesday, the day after the crash. The warrant for his arrest was issued Thursday.
“The actions taken by the defendant while operating a commercial tractor-trailer are both shocking and criminal,” said Dave Kerner, executive director of the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles Department. “Three people lost their lives as a result of his recklessness, and countless friends and family members will experience the pain of their loss forever. Harjinder Singh is in custody on state vehicular homicide charges and immigration violations. He will no longer be able to damage and destroy the lives of Floridians and visitors. At the conclusion of his state charges, he will be deported.”
San Joaquin County Sheriff Patrick Withrow, according to ABC10 in Sacramento, said Singh was illegally in the country. He also said Senate Bill 54 in California “does not allow me to honor the ICE hold.”
“Three innocent people were killed in Florida because Gavin Newsom’s California Department of Motor Vehicles issued an illegal alien a commercial driver’s license – this state of governance is asinine,” said Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for Homeland Security. “How many more innocent people must die before Gavin Newsom stops playing games with the safety of the American public? We pray for the victims and their families.”
SB54 is colloquially known as the California Values Act, passed in 2017, and prevents local lawmen from using resources to help federal immigration agencies. Newsom was lieutenant governor from 2011-19 while Democrat Jerry Brown was governor, then won election to governor in the 2018 midterms.
