Punjab-origin man held in US for multi-vehicle crash
The mishap took place last year that left a five-year-old girl severely injured as she remained comatose for weeks, accused Partap Singh is alleged to have been living in the US “illegally”
An Indian national, who had arrived in the US illegally, has been arrested for causing a multi-vehicle crash while driving a truck in California last year that critically injured a five-year old child and left her with life-altering injuries.
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Partap Singh last month. He would remain in ICE custody pending immigration proceedings. The agency said that in June 2024, Singh caused a multi-car pileup while driving a commercial 18-wheeler in California.
Singh had illegally crossed the southern border in October 2022 and was “released” into the country by the Joe Biden administration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement on Thursday. The California Highway Patrol (CHP) Traffic Crash Report states that Singh drove at an unsafe speed and failed to stop for traffic and a construction zone.
Singh had been issued a commercial driver’s licence by California Governor Gavin Newsom’s Department of Motor Vehicles. The accident left five-year-old Dalilah Coleman with critical, life-altering injuries. The agency added that the collision also resulted in the hospitalisation of Coleman’s stepdad Michael Krause while the child had to be airlifted to a hospital after suffering critical injuries. Several other individuals were also transported to hospitals for injuries.
According to Coleman’s father, the crash resulted in her inability to walk, talk, eat orally or attend kindergarten as planned. She was in a coma for three weeks and required six months of hospital treatment. While in the hospital, she had a craniectomy and was without half of her skull for four months. She experienced a broken femur, skull fractures and has since been diagnosed with diplegic cerebral palsy, global developmental delay, and will need life-long therapy, the agency said.
This is the second such case involving an Indian, who had been living illegally in the US and was arrested for causing a fatal accident while driving a commercial vehicle. In August, Harjinder Singh was arrested on three counts of vehicular homicide. He was also driving an 18-wheeler vehicle on a Florida highway and attempted to make an illegal U-turn. By blocking all lanes of the highway with his truck, Harjinder Singh caused a fatal accident, instantly killing three people.
The DHS had said that Harjinder Singh had obtained a commercial driver’s license in California, despite having no legal right to be in the United States. In the wake of the fatal accident, the US said it was immediately pausing all issuance of worker visas for commercial truck drivers.
