California semi-truck driver sentenced to over 4 years for deaths of 3 people on Ontario highway

A Yuba City semi-truck driver was sentenced to four years and eight months for the highway deaths of three people last year, as his truck crashed into another vehicle in Ontario, leading to a deadly eight-vehicle pileup.

Jashanpreet Singh pled guilty to three felony counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence for the Oct. 2025 incident.

Singh was arrested at the scene under suspicion of DUI, but toxicology reports came back negative for drugs or alcohol. Prosecutors said eyewitness and dashcam footage showed Singh's semi-truck traveling at a high rate of speed into stopped traffic on the I-10 Freeway in Ontario.

A California Highway Patrol investigation found that Singh failed to stop his truck before crashing into the back of another vehicle, causing a violent chain reaction crash that killed three people and injured four.

The Department of Homeland Security claims Singh is an undocumented immigrant who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in 2022 as an Indian national. 

California transportation officials dispute those claims and say the federal government approved his Employment Authorization Documents, which allowed him to obtain a REAL ID confirming his legal status. State officials say that his legal employment was extended from April 24, 2025, to Oct. 16, 2026, then again to Aug. 18, 2030.