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The illegal immigrant from India who is accused of causing a fatal pile-up in California pleaded not guilty Tuesday to downgraded charges after his blood work reveal he wasn’t actually under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time.
Jashanpreet Singh, 21, is accused of causing a collision involving eight vehicles on the westbound 10 Freeway in San Bernardino County last month in an incident that left three people dead and four others injured.
Singh appeared in San Bernardino County Superior Court in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. Tuesday wearing orange jail scrubs, shackled at his wrists and — but without his Sikh turban, which he had requested.
He pleaded not guilty a new complaint to charges of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.
Authorities had initially claimed Singh was under the influence of drugs when he crashed his semi-truck during slow-moving traffic. But prosecutors in San Bernardino have since announced no drugs or alcohol were found in his blood, following testing.
Singh now faces three counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and reckless driving, after the prior charges of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and driving under the influence were dropped, according to an amended criminal complaint.
Singh had faced up to 17 years behind bars under the prior more serious charges. He now faces up to 10 years if convicted.
The judge denied his renewed request for bail and set his next court date for Thursday when Singh can make a motion for permission to wear his religious head covering in court.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement have issued a formal request for local law enforcement to notify ICE before Singh is released, as he’s believed to have entered the US illegally in 2022 via the southern border before he was allowed into the country by the Biden administration, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Harrowing dashcam footage captured the red tractor-trailer plowing into several cars in one lane and smashing them to bits before colliding into the back of a white truck. At least eight cars were involved in the crash.
All westbound lanes were shut down for hours while the disaster was investigated.
A few days later, the Department of Transportation released a report blaming California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration for allegedly unlawfully upgrading Singh’s license after a law passed weeks prior preventing illegal immigrants from holding commercial driver’s licenses.
The law went into effect on Sept. 26, while Singh’s driving rights were upgraded from a restricted Commercial Driver’s License, which allowed him to drive a commercial truck only within the Golden State, to an expanded CDL on Oct. 15, the report claims.
The victims were identified as Fontana couple Clarence and Lisa Nelson, ages 76 and 69, and Jaime Flores Garcia, 54, of Upland, according to a report by the Rancho Cucamonga Daily Bulletin.
Two GOP lawmakers Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) last week called on the Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to look into the programs that approve CDLs following Singh’s crash and another collision by an illegal immigrant also from India, Harjinder Singh.
Harjinder Singh is also accused of killing three people, after he pulled an illegal U-turn with an 18-wheeler through an “Official Use Only” zone, colliding with a van in Fort Pierce, Fla. on Aug. 12.
Harjinder Singh had been driving with a California issued CDL. He faces vehicular homicide charges and immigration violations for allegedly illegally entering the US in 2018.
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