Indian trucker held in US for fatal hit-and-run; 5th case in 9 months

BATHINDA: US authorities have arrested Manvir Singh, an undocumented Indian national, following a hit-and-run near Lodi, California, that killed two people.

Singh's arrest marks the fifth time in nine months that an Indian-origin trucker has been detained following a US road fatality, bringing the death toll across these incidents to 11.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Thursday said Singh veered off the road, struck a guardrail, and triggered a collision before fleeing on foot. Singh, who was apprehended and released at the Arizona border in 2023, now faces charges of vehicular manslaughter and felony hit-and-run in San Joaquin County. The DHS posted on X, "This alien never should have been behind the wheel of a semi-truck."

The Lodi crash is the latest in a series of fatalities involving Indian nationals.

On Feb 2026, Sukhdeep Singh, 25, allegedly ran a red light in Indiana, killing a 64-year-old man. Singh, an undocumented immigrant since 2018, obtained his commercial licence in May 2025. In Nov 2025, Rajinder Kumar, 32, was charged in a crash that killed two newlyweds in Oregon. In Oct 2025, Jashanpreet Singh, 21, was arrested after a DUI-related crash claimed three lives in California, while in Aug that year, Harjinder Singh, 25, allegedly killed three people during a reckless U-turn in Florida.

The surge in fatalities prompted the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to implement rules limiting "non-domiciled" commercial driver's licences (CDLs).

In response, the Sikh Coalition and United Sikhs filed a lawsuit against the California DMV after the state moved to cancel over 20,000 licences. The advocacy groups argue the mass cancellations unfairly target the 150,000 Indians—90% of whom are drivers—powering the US trucking industry. They claim the new rules devastate livelihoods based on the actions of a few.