Freight carrier, three states under microscope of triple fatal U-turn

Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration rules were violated by the states of Washington and New Mexico

Alan Wooten
The Center Square

White Hawk Carriers, an interstate freight carrier in Ceres, Calif., is under investigation along with one of its drivers facing three charges of vehicular homicide in Florida.

Additionally, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration rules were violated by the states of Washington and New Mexico. California’s issuance of a license is also under investigation.

“If states had followed the rules, this driver would have never been behind the wheel and three precious lives would still be with us,” Duffy said. “This crash was a preventable tragedy directly caused by reckless decisions and compounded by despicable failures. Nonenforcement and radical immigration policies have turned the trucking industry into a lawless frontier, resulting in unqualified foreign drivers improperly acquiring licenses to operate 40-ton vehicles.”

Harjinder Singh, the accused seen on video from inside his truck making a U-turn in a 70 mph zone of the Florida Turnpike, had correct responses to two of 12 verbal questions on an English language proficiency assessment and correctly identified only one of four highway traffic signs during an interview with the Motor Carrier Administration.

This comes after Washington issued him a full-term commercial driver’s license on July 15, 2023, despite asylum seekers or individuals without legal status not being eligible, the Transportation Department said. On July 23, 2024, he was issued a limited-term/nondomiciled CDL by California, a license now under federal probe.

On July 3 of this year, Singh was given a speeding ticket and administered a roadside inspection by the New Mexico State Police. The Transportation Department said the English language proficiency assessment was started June 25 and there’s no indication the trooper enforced it.

Singh is from India and sought asylum in America.

“In some of these states, you have liberal governors who don’t want to comply with the law,” Duffy said in a television interview. “They think that they know best and that we’re just trying to be mean to illegals. But whether you’re going to fly on an airplane, you’re going to be a train, or you’re going to be on the American roadway, you deserve to be safe and you expect that your federal government is going to have smart policies in place that do keep you safe. They just blatantly in New Mexico said, ‘We’re not going to comply with federal regulation and give him that road test.’”

On social media, Duffy wrote, “If you can’t speak our national language or read our road signs, you are not qualified to drive a truck.”

Singh attempted the U-turn on the Florida Turnpike through a point in the divided highway marked “official use only.” 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.

Singh has appeared in a Stockton, Calif., court and signed papers allowing his extradition to Florida to face charges. Duffy said his department’s investigation will support the ongoing criminal probe in Florida.

This report was first published by The Center Square.