A truck driver detained by immigration authorities at the scene of a fatal crash last month now faces criminal charges after investigators say he ran a red light, killing 64-year-old Terry Schultz of Carmel.
On March 23, the Hendricks County Prosecutor’s Office charged 24-year-old Sukhdeep Singh with reckless homicide and reckless driving.
Around noon on Feb. 18, Singh drove through the intersection of U.S. Route 36 and Country Road 525 East in Avon. Singh’s semi-truck crashed into the side of Terry Schultz’s pick-up, sending it across the median and into the path of another car, according to charging documents.
Schultz was declared dead at the scene, and Singh was detained by Indiana State Police on behalf of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Singh told police that he saw the signal turn red when he was about 100 feet away from the intersection, but didn’t think he’d be able to stop because of his truck’s weight, investigators wrote. He instead decided to honk his horn, accelerate and go through the red light.
Investigators wrote that data recovered from the truck’s internal computers and physical evidence from the scene showed Singh would have seen the light turn yellow more than nine seconds before the crash. Had he stopped then rather than trying to beat the light, the crash would have been avoided, they wrote.
An inspection of Singh’s truck showed six separate safety violations unrelated to the crash, each of which would have rendered the truck unroadworthy on their own. The braking system was seriously compromised: the air brake had multiple air leaks, and four of the ten service brakes were out of adjustment.
The truck hadn’t undergone its annual inspection since October 2023, and the load it was hauling wasn’t properly secured.
The carrier for whom Singh had been driving, Big Rock Transportation, could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.
Singh told police that he’d been driving the semi for only a month or two after getting a CDL through a trucking school in New Palestine. The school’s name wasn’t specified in court documents.
The Feb. 18 crash, which took place just as the Trump administration called for a crackdown on immigrant truck drivers, drew national news attention even before charges were filed.
State Sen. Michael Young, R-Indianapolis, referenced the crash as Indiana lawmakers discussed a bill that makes Indiana the first state in the nation to revoke commercial driver’s licenses for people with lapsed legal status, according to its authors. That law, signed by Gov. Mike Braun earlier this month, goes into effect July 1.
A warrant has been issued for Singh’s arrest, according to online court records. ICE’s website shows that Singh is currently being held at the Clay County Justice Center, a jail that now doubles as one of the Midwest’s largest immigration detention facilities.
No defense attorney was listed for Singh at the time of publication.
Ryan Murphy is the communities reporter for IndyStar. She can be reached at rhmurphy@indystar.com.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Man in ICE detention charged in fatal Avon semi-truck crash
Reporting by Ryan Murphy, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
