More than 2.5 million people have signed a petition urging Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to show leniency towards Harjinder Singh, the truck driver accused of causing a crash that killed three people last week.
The petition, posted on Change.org, calls for both DeSantis and the Florida Board of Executive Clemency to reexamine the case against Singh, arguing he did not have any criminal intent or history.
The 28-year-old Indian native, who the U.S. Marshals Service says entered the country illegally in 2018, was charged with three state counts of vehicular homicide and immigration violations, and he was denied bond on all charges. Singh faces up to 45 years in prison.
Officials said he was operating a commercial semi-truck with a trailer on the Florida Turnpike in Fort Pierce, about 50 miles north of West Palm Beach, on August 12 when he allegedly attempted a U-turn in an unauthorized area.
A minivan in the neighboring lane was unable to avoid the truck’s trailer and slammed into it, killing a 37-year-old woman from Pompano Beach, a 54-year-old man from Miami, and a 30-year-old driver from Florida City.
Days after Singh was arrested in California last Monday, Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins personally escorted him back to the state on Thursday. Since then, more than 2.65 million people have signed the petition asking DeSantis to commute any possible sentence.
“This was a tragic accident — not a deliberate act. While accountability matters, the severity of the charges against him does not align with the circumstances of the incident,” wrote Manisha Kaushal, who started the petition under the name “Collective Punjabi youth.”
“By granting clemency, you would reaffirm the value of proportional justice, the power of community advocacy, and the potential for rehabilitation.”
Signatories on Change.org also argued that the incident was a “terrible mistake,” evidenced by Singh’s clean record and full cooperation with authorities.
“It was an accident. [He] made a terrible mistake, not a deliberate choice to harm anyone. He was working hard to support his family, like so many of us, and one wrong decision changed everything,” one person from Sydney, Australia, commented. “A 45-year prison sentence is not justice.”
“45 yrs of imprisonment?” another person from Canada wrote. “Is it fair for a young boy who left his home country to have a bright future, support family??? NO.”
Singh’s family in India’s Punjab region has also spoken out since news of his arrest, calling for him to receive a more lenient sentence.
“His age is 28 years, and if he gets 45 years of jail, then you can imagine what will be the condition of his family,” relative Dilbagh Singh told the Times of India, from the village of Rataul near the Indian-Pakistan border.
Meanwhile, a counter-petition set up by a self-styled “heritage American” truck driver calling for the deportation of Singh’s supporters, proposing a commutation, garnered almost 20,000 signatures on Monday.
The Department of Homeland Security said Singh obtained a commercial driver’s license in California, one of 19 states, along with the District of Columbia, that issue licenses regardless of immigration status, according to the National Immigration Law Center.
Supporters of the legislation say that it lets people work, visit doctors, and travel safely.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said issuing a commercial license to someone in the U.S. illegally is “asinine.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom’s press office responded to McLaughlin on X, arguing that Singh obtained a work permit during President Donald Trump’s first term, which the DHS spokesperson disputed.
In the aftermath of the crash, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the U.S. will pause issuing work visas to some foreign truck drivers.
He warned on X on Thursday that they are “endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers.”
