FORT PIERCE, Fla. (Diya TV) — Sikhs for Justice leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun offered an unexpected public defense of Harjinder Singh, the truck driver who entered the United States illegally, who now faces deportation after being accused of killing three people on the Florida Turnpike.
At a press conference Tuesday outside the St. Lucie County Jail, Pannun said he spent two days meeting with Singh, who remains incarcerated on three counts of manslaughter and three counts of vehicular homicide.
A widely seen viral video showed Singh operating a tractor-trailer that made an illegal U-turn on August 12, leading to a catastrophic collision with an oncoming vehicle. Singh’s lack of reaction after the incident triggered outrage and led the Department of Transportation to issue new guidance on English proficiency for truck drivers after reports indicate Singh failed basic tests after the crash.
Yet according to Pannun, Singh is consumed by grief and remorse over what transpired. “I saw sorrow and suffering in his eyes,” he said. Pannun, though not part of Singh’s legal defense team, claimed that Singh immediately exited his truck after the crash, broke a window of the victim’s vehicle, and held one passenger’s hand while pleading, “Help is on the way, please stay with me.”
Labeling the crash “a tragic misjudgment” rather than a malicious act, Pannun argued that characterizing Singh as a “malicious killer” would be unfair. “He is not a criminal, but a man caught in a horrific moment,” he added.
Pannun himself is an extremely controversial figure. He has long been designated a “terrorist” by India for his threats against scores of Indian leaders, while leading the charge for a Khalistan nation-state carved out of India.
Khalistan advocates were behind the second largest act of aviation terror in North America after 9/11 and social media posts by Singh place him on site in support of the Sikhs for Justice Khalistan Referendum event in San Francisco last year.
In a move he brands as “compassion and empathy,” Pannun announced that Sikhs for Justice would contribute $100,000 in humanitarian aid to the families of the victims. The funds, he said, will be routed through the Office of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Singh’s case has stirred complex emotions within both the Indian American and broader Florida communities, as court proceedings now begin.
Prosecutors allege that Singh’s illegal turn directly caused the fatal crash. Singh’s supporters say he panicked and made a terrible error, but one that does not warrant vilification or dehumanization.
As the legal process unfolds, the families of the deceased await answers—and now, unexpectedly, financial support from the very group aligned with the man at the center of the crash.
