Harjinder Singh is a truck driver from California who has been charged with multiple counts of vehicle manslaughter due to an illegal U-turn in Florida.
According to police reports Harjinder Singh was travelling on the Florida turnpike near Fort Pierce when he decided to make a U-turn which ended with a vehicle crashing into his semi truck killing three people inside of a van
Harjinder Singh would be arrested and has been charged with three counts of vehicular manslaughter
Turns out Harjinder Singh was first issued his CDL in Washington State before being issued one in California however due to Singh immigration status he should have never been issued a CDL in the first place. To top it off Singh English competency level is very low again showing another reason why he should have not had a CDL
Now chances are Harjinder Singh missed his exit when travelling down the Florida turnpike and instead of waiting for the next exit and using that to turn around he decided to take a shortcut by pulling off a U-turn. Obviously this was a stupid mistake on all sorts of different levels which greatly points at a lack of training.
The Harjinder Singh case was the kicking off point for President Trump going after truck drivers who were on certain immigration status levels leading to a number of States revoking CDLs.
With this case if Harjinder Singh is convicted he is going to spend a long time in prison and be immediately deported afterwards but hopefully the company who hired him also faces consequences as well
Florida U-Turn Video
Harjinder Singh News
Harjinder Singh, a 28-year-old native of India, is being held in the St. Lucie County Jail in Florida after being denied bond on three counts of vehicular homicide and immigration violations. Singh lived in Stockton, California, and was originally issued a commercial driver’s license in Washington before California issued him one.
Fallout from the crash led to a war of words between the Trump administration and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and new, stricter rules for non-citizens to obtain commercial driver’s licenses. That policy was announced Friday by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
The Florida Highway Patrol said Singh attempted to make a U-turn Aug. 12 from the northbound lanes of Florida’s Turnpike near Fort Pierce. A minivan that was behind Singh’s big rig couldn’t stop and crashed into the truck, killing its driver and two passengers. Singh and a passenger in the truck were not injured.
In a news conference last week, Duffy said an audit conducted after the Florida crash showed the previous rules weren’t strict enough and that a number of states weren’t following them consistently.
He said Singh should have never received a commercial license because of his immigration status.
That review found that commercial driver’s licenses were improperly issued in California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas and Washington. But Duffy said the problems were so egregious in California, where Singh’s license was issued, that he is threatening to pull $160 million in federal funding.
Neither Singh’s attorney, Natalie Knight-Tai, nor prosecutor David Dodd responded to emails seeking comment on the case. Next up for Singh is a pre-trial docket call on Friday in Fort Pierce.
Stockton truck driver pleads not guilty to deadly Florida crash
Harjinder Singh More News
A deadly crash on Florida’s Turnpike that killed three people in St. Lucie County is now at the center of a national debate over commercial truck driver licensing.
On Wednesday, St. Lucie County Sheriff Richard Del Toro traveled to Washington, D.C., to testify before a congressional subcommittee investigating whether gaps in the commercial driver’s license system allowed the driver involved in the crash to legally operate a semi-truck
“Three innocent people in my county lost their lives in a catastrophic crash on the Florida Turnpike involving a commercial motor vehicle,” Del Toro told lawmakers. “For the families of those victims, this is not a policy debate. It’s a permanent loss.”
The crash happened Aug. 12, 2025, when investigators say truck driver Harjinder Singh attempted an illegal U-turn across the northbound lanes of Florida’s Turnpike in St. Lucie County.
A minivan traveling at highway speed slammed into the side of the tractor-trailer.
“It was an illegal U-turn in the middle of our Florida Turnpike — really for no reason,” Del Toro testified. “Three people who were traveling close to 80 miles an hour went underneath the back of that truck and lost their lives.”
All three people inside the minivan were killed.
Authorities say Singh, an Indian national, entered the United States illegally in 2018 and was issued a notice to appear in immigration court.
According to testimony in the hearing, Singh failed a commercial driver’s license test multiple times in Washington state before eventually obtaining a CDL in California earlier in 2025.
Harjinder Singh has pleaded not guilty to charges including vehicular homicide and remains jailed in St. Lucie County.
The case quickly drew national attention — not just because of the crash itself, but because of questions about how truck drivers are licensed across different states.
“When these standards vary between states, those inconsistencies can create vulnerabilities that place our communities at risk,” Del Toro told the committee.
Commercial trucks can weigh up to 80,000 pounds, he noted, meaning mistakes behind the wheel can have devastating consequences.
“Commercial motor vehicles can weigh up to 80,000 pounds,” Del Toro said. “When operated unsafely, they have the potential to cause devastating consequences in a matter of seconds.”
The hearing comes as federal regulators prepare new rules aimed at tightening how commercial driver’s licenses — particularly “non-domiciled” CDLs issued to non-U.S. residents — are verified and issued nationwide.
Del Toro told lawmakers Florida has already taken steps to strengthen its system.
According to the sheriff, Florida now verifies immigration status electronically through the Department of Homeland Security’s SAVE system, scans and stores documentation used to verify identity and legal presence, and requires drivers with temporary legal status to apply for licenses in person.
The state also now marks licenses issued to non-citizens with temporary status and has moved to require CDL testing to be conducted in English.
“The written CDL knowledge test was previously provided in Spanish and English,” Del Toro said. “Florida recently changed its policy so that all driver’s license testing must be taken in English only.”
Florida also paused issuing non-domiciled CDLs in November 2025 until updated federal rules take effect later this month.
Del Toro said the goal is not to penalize immigrants who are legally in the country, but to ensure drivers operating large commercial vehicles meet strict safety standards.
“This isn’t to hurt anybody that’s here legally in our country,” he told lawmakers. “It’s just a way to vet it out and increase our standards.”
Florida sheriff tells Congress deadly Florida Turnpike crash exposed CDL ‘gaps’
