Florida crash: Punjabi truck driver Harjinder Singh flight risk, not eligible for bond, rules court

Indian-origin truck driver who caused three deaths in Florida was denied bond by the court.

The Florida court where Indian-origin truck driver Harjinder Singh was presented ruled that Singh would not be released pre-trial as he is a substantial flight risk, and he was also not eligible for bond, the court said. During the court proceeding Saturday, Singh did not understand any question about a court-appointed attorney despite the aid of a translator, a local report said. Singh wanted to wait until the next hearing to have a public defender to represent him. Singh, who caused a crash on the Florida Turnpike by taking a wrong U-turn with his semi-truck, killing three people, faces three counts of vehicular homicide and three counts of manslaughter. Florida Lt Gov Jay Collins, who took a charter flight from Florida to California to extradite Singh from California, said Harjinder Singh demonstrated “no remorse” and was uncaring and not conversational. “We’re going to throw the book at him,” Collins said. “So he’s going to do some time. And when he’s done with that, then he’ll get deported back to wherever he came from,” Collins said, explaining that after he serves his punishment here, he will be deported to India. Collins earlier said Singh should not have been behind the wheel for the simple reason as he did not understand English. The Trump administration, in fact, claimed that Singh failed the English Language Proficiency assessment and identified only one of four highway traffic signs. A major row began as Singh had a full-term commercial driver’s licese though he did not know the road rules and also had a work permit, though he is in the US illegally. His brother who is also in the US illegally, has been arrested in the aftermath of the Florida crash. He was sitting inside the semi when the accident took place. Harjinder Singh entered the US in 2018 illegally and was arrested within days. He said he was scared to go back to India and his immigration case remained pending. He sought a work permit which was rejected during the Trump administration but was given during the Biden administration, DHS said.