Report: Migrant Truck Driver Looking at Phone Runs Chicago Man Down, Does Not Stop After Killing Him

A migrant driver of a semi-truck was arrested and charged with running down and killing a Chicago man who was trying to change his tire alongside a suburban highway late in June.

The accident occurred early in the morning of June 24 when 24-year-old Sebastian Stone pulled off to the side of I-80 near Torrence Ave. to change a flat tire. While in the process of changing the tire, Stone was struck and killed by a semi-truck, which did not stop after running him down, CWBChicago reported.

Police were called to the scene by witnesses, and officers found Stone dead on the side of the road.

Witnesses described the truck that struck the stranded motorist and gave police the license plate number, the name of the company on the side of the truck, and the truck’s company ID number. By 9 a.m., police had confirmed the witness statements with license plate reader data.

Officials also confirmed that the semi was being driven by Kulgeet Kang, 34, whose name is of Punjabi origin and common among Sikh communities.

Further information on Kang’s immigration status has not been released.

Investigators contacted the company Kang was driving for and informed them of the incident, and company officials called the driver on his cell phone to alert him that he was being sought for killing a motorist. Company officials told police that Kang answered the phone, but then allegedly hung up on his bosses without speaking to them. He then refused to answer follow-up calls.

Hours later, Kang was located and arrested as police combed through the truck’s dash cam footage and Kang’s phone records.

Investigators said they discovered Kang was looking at his cell phone during the accident and confirmed that he did not stop to render aid or stay at the scene to be interviewed by responding police units.

Judge Rivanda Doss Beal granted the state’s detention requests, and he was charged with reckless homicide and leaving the scene of a fatal accident.

Sikh truck drivers who have immigrated to the U.S. by the tens of thousands to take semi driving jobs have claimed to be suffering a higher level of anti-immigrant vitriol after Sikh truckers have been reported at the center of a growing number of deadly crashes all across the U.S.

According to the Associated Press (AP), the North American Punjabi Truckers Association estimates that the Sikh workforce makes up about 40 percent of truck drivers on the West Coast and about 20 percent nationwide, meaning there are at least 150,000 Sikh truckers working in the U.S.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: Facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, Truth Social @WarnerToddHuston, or at X/Twitter @WTHuston.