Intoxicated Indian-origin trucker allegedly causes crash in US, killing 3

A 21-year-old Indian-origin truck driver has been accused of causing a semi-truck crash while driving under the influence, killing three people in the US state of California earlier this week, according to a media report.

Jashanpreet Singh allegedly rammed his truck into slow-moving traffic in Southern California on Tuesday, Fox News reported on Wednesday.

At least three people were killed and several others injured in the crash.

Quoting police, the report said Singh never hit the brakes of his truck before slamming into the traffic. It also said that toxicology tests confirmed impairment. He has been arrested on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

Singh, an illegal immigrant, crossed the southern border of the US in 2022 and was released pending an immigration hearing, according to the report.

He was not in lawful immigration status, the report said, quoting US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sources, adding that the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has lodged an immigration detainer following his arrest.

Singh was released under the Biden administration’s 2022 "alternatives to detention" policy, it said. This is the second such incident since August in which an Indian-origin trucker has been accused of causing a deadly crash in the US.

On August 12, Harjinder Singh, 28, allegedly made an illegal U-turn in his tractor-trailer in Florida, causing a deadly crash which killed three people. He faces three counts of vehicular homicide.

Following the incident, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had announced a pause to all issuances of commercial truck driver work visas.

“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 had posted on social media.