California truck driver gets nearly 5 years in prison for deadly crash

Jashanpreet Singh pleaded guilty to three counts of vehicular manslaughter after a 2025 crash that killed three people and injured four

Jashanpreet Singh, 21, admitted to grossly negligent vehicular manslaughter after investigators concluded he failed to brake before the 2025 crash on I-10 in Ontario, California. (Photo: San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office High Tech Crimes Unit)

A California-based truck driver has been sentenced to four years and eight months in state prison after pleading guilty to causing a fiery chain-reaction crash on Interstate 10 that killed three people and injured four others last year.

Jashanpreet Singh, 21, of Yuba City, California, was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty in June to three felony counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence in connection with the Oct. 21, 2025, crash on westbound I-10 near the Interstate 15 interchange in Ontario, California, according to the Los Angeles Times.

According to California Highway Patrol investigators, Singh failed to slow for stopped traffic, sending his semi-truck into the rear of another vehicle and triggering an eight-vehicle pileup involving four tractor-trailers and four passenger vehicles. 

Dashcam footage reviewed by investigators showed the truck traveling at a high rate of speed before plowing into stopped traffic. One vehicle burst into flames during the collision.

Three people died at the scene, while four others were injured.

Singh was initially arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence following the crash. However, prosecutors later dropped the DUI allegation after toxicology testing found no drugs or alcohol in his system. He ultimately pleaded guilty to the vehicular manslaughter charges.

During sentencing, the judge considered Singh’s eligibility for California’s youth offender provisions, along with his lack of prior criminal history and the finding that the crash was not intentional. Those factors contributed to the four-year, eight-month sentence.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has said Singh entered the U.S. through the southern border in 2022 as an Indian national and was in the country without legal status. Immigration officials lodged a detainer request shortly after the crash seeking to hold him for possible deportation proceedings following his criminal case.

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Noi Mahoney

Noi Mahoney is a Texas-based journalist who covers cross-border trade, logistics and supply chains for FreightWaves. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in English in 1998. Mahoney has more than 20 years experience as a journalist, working for newspapers in Maryland and Texas. Contact nmahoney@freightwaves.com