DAVIE, FLA. (WSVN) – A truck driver who allegedly killed three South Florida residents while attempting an illegal U-turn on the Florida Turnpike is expected to appear before a judge in California.
The Florida Highway Patrol said the crash occurred on Aug. 12 just before 3 p.m. near Mile Marker 171 in St. Lucie County.
A 2015 Chrysler Town & Country carrying five people, including a 30-year-old man from Florida City, a 37-year-old woman from Pompano Beach, and a 54-year-old man from Miami collided with a 2024 International semi-truck after the truck driver attempted an illegal U-turn across northbound lanes.
Video of the crash was captured on dashboard camera inside the tractor trailer. The driver, identified as 28-year-old Harjinder Singh, could be seen behind the wheel as well as a passenger next to him.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Singh should have never been behind the wheel.
“It should have never happened, he should’ve never been here. He certainly shouldn’t have gotten a commercial driver’s license from California,” said DeSantis. “This guy thought that he should just try to turn a semi-truck around and that, of course, doesn’t happen on a dime, so you had a car coming, run into it and it ended up killing three people, all from Florida,” said DeSantis.
The governor told reporters at a press conference Tuesday morning watching the dashboard camera footage was chilling, showing Singh’s minimal reaction immediately after the collision happened.
“It’s disturbing, too because we have video of this, we have photos of this and he seemed to not, like, it was almost as if he was walking down the sidewalk, maybe stubbed his toe, it was like it didn’t register to him what had happened,” said DeSantis.
Troopers say Singh entered the United States illegally in 2018 and got a commercial driver’s license in California, something DeSantis said would not be allowed in Florida.
“You shouldn’t be giving illegals driver’s licenses, we don’t allow that in Florida; California does,” he said.
The California-based company who hired Singh is now under investigation by federal authorities.
The company is listed as out-of-service by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
The U.S. Department of Transportation also said the company’s insurance has been canceled.
Singh is being held in custody in California and is expected to appear before a judge on Tuesday.
It remains unclear when he will be extradited to Florida.
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