The three people from South Florida who were killed in a crash involving a tractor-trailer driver who authorities said was in the country illegally have been identified as new details are being released in the incident that has caused controversy.
Arrest affidavits released Monday identified the victims of the Aug. 12 crash as 30-year-old Herby Dufresne, of Florida City, 54-year-old Rodrigue Dor, of Miami, and 37-year-old Faniloa Joseph, of Pompano Beach.
Dufresne was driving a Chrysler minivan with Dor and Joseph as passengers when it collided with a tractor-trailer driven by 28-year-old Harjinger Singh on the Florida’s Turnpike near Fort Pierce, the affidavits said.
Singh was allegedly trying to make an illegal U-turn on the Turnpike, in a turn-around area marked for “official use only,” when it crossed in front of the minivan.
The minivan slammed into the truck and became lodged under the trailer with extensive front end damage, the affidavits said.
St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office
St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office The driver of a semi-truck was arrested after a crash on Florida’s Turnpike that killed three people from South Florida in Fort Pierce, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
Both passengers were pronounced dead at the scene and Dufresne was airlifted to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Singh and his passenger weren’t injured.
According to the affidavits, a Florida Highway Patrol investigator attempted a translated interview with Singh, but Singh declined to be interviewed saying he wanted to speak with an attorney first.
Singh’s passenger told investigators he was watching videos on his phone and wasn’t paying attention when the crash happened.
He said the GPS was instructing them to head north to an exit and then head south to Miami, and he was unsure why Singh was trying to make a U-turn, the affidavits said.
The passenger added that they’d gotten rest and Singh didn’t seem tired while he was driving, the affidavits said.
According to the affidavits, the manager of the California trucking company Singh worked for said he and had flown back to California the day after the crash.
A warrant was issued on Aug. 15 for Singh, who was arrested in California on three counts of vehicular homicide and three counts of manslaughter.
Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins personally went to California to oversee the handover of Singh to Florida authorities.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that Lt. Gov. Jay Collins would be making the trip personally on Thursday to bring the suspect accused of three counts of vehicular homicide to Florida. NBC6’s Julia Bagg reports.
He appeared before a Florida judge over the weekend who ordered him held without bond.
Officials said that after they obtained an arrest warrant for Singh, an investigation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement revealed that he had been living in the U.S. illegally since 2018, after he crossed the border from Mexico.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said Singh was given a commercial driver’s license by Washington in 2023, and by California in 2024.
Singh only answered 2 of the 12 verbal questions for an English proficiency test and could only identify one of four traffic signs, Uthmeier said.
The incident has garnered criticism of illegal immigration and sanctuary policies in states like California by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Gov. Ron DeSantis is speaking out after a deadly crash on the Turnpike in St. Lucie County, saying it highlights failures in the nation’s immigration system. NBC6’s Lena Salzbank reports
“To have California send this guy in and create havoc for our state, it’s just fundamentally wrong,” DeSantis said. “It can’t just be that we do the right things in Florida, and somehow that’s going to cure what is happening on the ‘Left Coast’ … California, they do it differently, they invite people to come in illegally, and they provide benefits.”
“The DMV followed all federal and state laws in reviewing and granting Mr. Harjinder Singh his California commercial driver’s license. The federal government confirmed Mr. Singh’s legal presence in the United States,” the California Department of Motor Vehicles said in a statement. “Mr. Singh’s commercial driver’s license is a federal REAL ID, which he was entitled to receive given the federal government’s confirmation of his legal status.”
Uthmeier announced Monday that Florida’s agricultural inspection stations will be stopping anyone in the country illegally who may be operating large trucks with out-of-state driver’s licenses.
Florida ramping up truck inspections after fatal crash involving undocumented driver
Uthmeier said he’s also urging the federal government to revoke commercial driver’s license program authority and strip federal funding from California and Washington.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
