{"id":349871,"date":"2026-07-23T14:10:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T14:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/349871\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T14:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T14:10:08","slug":"truck-driver-in-deadly-florida-turnpike-crash-due-in-st-lucie-co-court-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/349871\/","title":{"rendered":"Truck driver in deadly Florida Turnpike crash due in St. Lucie Co. court"},"content":{"rendered":"

FORT PIERCE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 The truck driver charged in a deadly Florida Turnpike<\/a> crash that killed three people is scheduled to return to court Thursday morning in St. Lucie County.<\/p>\n

According to a notice filed by the St. Lucie County Clerk of Court, Harjinder Singh<\/a> is set for a docket call before Circuit Judge Michael C. Heisey at 9 a.m. July 23 at the St. Lucie County<\/a> Courthouse in Fort Pierce. Court records state Singh must appear in person. Failure to appear could result in the forfeiture of his surety bond and the issuance of a bench warrant for his arrest.<\/p>\n

Singh faces criminal charges stemming from an Aug. 12, 2025, crash on Florida’s Turnpike near Fort Pierce<\/a> that killed three people and drew national attention over commercial driver licensing standards, immigration status and English proficiency requirements for truck drivers. Investigators say Singh used an “Official Use Only” crossover to make an illegal U-turn, causing his tractor-trailer to block all northbound lanes before a minivan crashed into it. Singh has pleaded not guilty to the charges.<\/p>\n

\"{p}FILE<\/p>\n

FILE – Troopers say Harjinder Singh, 28, cut across the highway using an \u201cOfficial Use Only\u201d access point near mile marker 171 in Fort Pierce on August 12. His tractor-trailer stretched across all northbound lanes, leaving the minivan with no time to brake.(Credit St. Lucie Co. Sheriff’s Office \/\/ Credit Instagram)<\/p>\n

The case has become the center of a broader legal and political debate. Earlier this year, Florida <\/a>sued California<\/a> and Washington <\/a>over commercial driver’s licenses issued to Singh, arguing the states failed to follow federal standards tied to immigration status and English-language requirements. In May, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the lawsuit, ending Florida’s effort to pursue the dispute directly before the nation’s highest court.<\/p>\n

See Related: Truck driver in deadly Turnpike crash returns to court after Florida loses CDL lawsuit<\/a><\/p>\n

St. Lucie County Sheriff Richard Del Toro Jr.<\/a> also testified before Congress <\/a>about what he described as gaps in the commercial driver licensing <\/a>system exposed by the case.<\/p>\n

Singh remains in custody as the criminal case continues in St. Lucie County.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT PIERCE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 The truck driver charged in a deadly Florida Turnpike crash that killed three…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":["post-349871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}