A horrifying incident unfolded last week on a Florida highway when a minivan crashed into a tractor-trailer attempting an illegal U-turn, resulting in the death of all three minivan occupants. The driver of the tractor-trailer, Harjinder Singh, an undocumented immigrant, has been charged with homicide.
The incident occurred around 3 p.m. on the Florida Turnpike near Fort Pierce. Singh, driving the tractor-trailer, made a sharp left turn across the highway, attempting to cross the median through a pass designated for official use only. The trailer blocked all lanes of oncoming traffic, leaving the approaching minivan with no time or space to avoid a collision.
The minivan crashed into the trailer at full speed, becoming wedged underneath. Images from the scene showed the minivan destroyed, its contents scattered across the highway, and the roof torn back and crumpled over the trunk.
Singh, inside the truck’s cab, appeared unaffected by the chaos unfolding on the highway. He calmly put his vehicle into park and turned off the engine after the collision. Additional footage showed Singh standing by the wreckage, watching rescue crews work to extricate the passengers’ remains from the van.
Two passengers in the minivan died instantly, while the driver was pulled from the wreckage and later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. The victims, whose names have not been released, were identified as a 37-year-old woman from Pompano Beach, a 30-year-old man from Florida City, and a 54-year-old man from Miami.
Singh was charged with three counts of vehicular homicide and is currently in Florida custody. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer was also issued for Singh, who has been in the U.S. illegally since 2018, having crossed the Mexican border. His country of origin remains unknown. Singh had been driving with a California commercial driver’s license.
If convicted of homicide, Singh will likely serve his sentence in Florida before being deported. Dave Kerner, the executive director of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, expressed his condolences to the victims’ families and assured that Singh would face justice for his actions.