Illegal Indian National Arrested In US For Truck Crash That Critically Injured 5-Year-Old

<p>New York/Washington: 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.</p>
<p>The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Partap Singh last month and he will remain in ICE custody pending immigration proceedings.</p>
<p>The agency said that in June 2024, Singh caused a multi-car pileup while driving a commercial 18-wheeler in California.</p>
<p>Singh had illegally crossed the southern border in October 2022 and was &ldquo;released&rdquo; into the country by the Joe Biden administration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement on Thursday.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Singh had been issued a commercial driver&rsquo;s license by California Governor Gavin Newsom&rsquo;s Department of Motor Vehicles.</p>
<p>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&rsquo;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.</p>
<p>According to Coleman&rsquo;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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Dalilah Coleman&rsquo;s life was forever changed when an illegal alien driving an 18-wheeler slammed into her and her family. This tragedy was entirely preventable,&rdquo; DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said.</p>
<p>This is &ldquo;sadly&rdquo; another example of Newsom&rsquo;s California Department of Motor Vehicles issuing an illegal individual a commercial driver&rsquo;s license, she added.</p>
<p>&ldquo;How many more innocent people must become victims before Gavin Newsom stops playing games with American lives? DHS is working around the clock to remove dangerous aliens&mdash;like Singh&mdash;who have no right to be in the US,&rdquo; Noem said.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>By blocking all lanes of the highway with his truck, Harjinder Singh caused a fatal accident, instantly killing three people.</p>
<p>The DHS had said that Harjinder Singh had obtained a commercial driver&rsquo;s license in California, despite having no legal right to be in the United States.</p>
<p>In the wake of the fatal accident, the US said it was immediately pausing all issuance of worker visas for commercial truck drivers.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on US roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers,&rdquo; Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said.</p>
<p>The Department of Transportation&rsquo;s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) had launched an investigation into the crash.</p>
<p>Harjinder Singh failed an English Language Proficiency (ELP) assessment, providing correct responses to just two of 12 verbal questions and only accurately identifying one of four highway traffic signs.&nbsp;</p>
<p class=”p1″><em><strong>(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)</strong></em></p>