Chandigarh: The family of a 21-year-old Indian-origin truck driver, who has been accused of causing a semi-truck crash that left three people dead in the US, Friday rubbished claims that he was intoxicated while driving, saying he was an ‘Amritdhari Sikh’ (baptised Sikh).
Jashanpreet Singh allegedly rammed his truck into slow-moving traffic in Southern California Tuesday, Fox News reported Wednesday.
At least three people were killed and several others were injured in the crash.
Quoting the 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.
Back home in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district, Singh’s family is in shock after they learned about the incident. The family hails from Purana Shala village in Gurdaspur.
Singh’s father, Ravinder Singh, Friday trashed the allegations that his son was under the influence of drugs at the time of the accident as baseless and asserted that he never consumed drugs or any intoxicant.
My son was not into drugs. My son is an ‘Amritdhari Sikh’. The allegations of drugs against him are completely wrong, said Ravinder, a school bus driver, while speaking to the media in Gurdaspur.
Ravinder called the accident very unfortunate and tragic and said they expressed condolences to the families of those who lost their lives. It was not done intentionally, he said while referring to the accident.
He urged the Centre to intervene in the matter and also requested the Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of Sikhs, and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) to support his son so that no injustice is done to him.
As the news of Jashanpreet’s arrest came out, villagers started gathering at his residence here to express solidarity with the family.
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.
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 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.
Jashanpreet, 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.
The North American Punjabi Association (NAPA) Friday expressed anguish and outrage over the horrifying accident in California, where three lives were lost and several others were injured due to the reckless actions of Jashanpreet, an Indian national who reportedly entered the US illegally and was released into the country.
This is a tragedy that should never have happened, said Satnam Singh Chahal, executive director of NAPA.
It is shameful and deeply painful that an individual from our own community, who entered the country through illegal means, has brought such grief and disgrace. Three innocent souls have perished — this is not just a legal failure, but a moral collapse of the system that enables and exploits desperate youth, he said.
NAPA strongly condemned the incident and demanded that the US and Indian authorities immediately investigate how an undocumented person could obtain a commercial driver’s licence and operate a heavy vehicle on American roads.
The organisation stressed that such incidents expose the growing human smuggling crisis and the careless exploitation of Punjabi and Indian youth by unscrupulous travel agents and immigration rackets operating across both countries.
Chahal said, Every month, we receive distress calls from families whose sons have vanished while trying to enter the US illegally. They sell land, mortgage homes and risk their lives, only to become victims of traffickers or face tragedies like this. Enough is enough; governments must act, not after people die, but before.
NAPA called on the Government of India to launch a nationwide crackdown on fraudulent travel and immigration agencies that are fueling this dangerous pipeline of illegal migration.
The association also appealed to parents and young people in Punjab and other Indian states to refuse the lure of illegal routes through Latin America and Mexico.
This is not the American dream, Chahal warned.
It is a nightmare that destroys families and communities. The blood of innocents should awaken our leaders, both in Washington and New Delhi, to take firm and coordinated action before more lives are lost.
NAPA reaffirmed its commitment to promoting legal, safe and dignified migration pathways and vowed to continue its campaign against human trafficking and immigration fraud through awareness programmes and policy advocacy.
