Queens garbage truck driver charged in fatal crash

Brian Niemietz, New York Daily News
Updated ·2 min read

A 52-year-old trucker is charged with killing a man waiting for a light to change by driving a 19-ton garbage truck into standing traffic at “an unreasonable speed.”

The Suffolk County District Attorney’s office announced Friday that Jaswinder Singh of Bellrose, Queens, will face charges including criminally negligent homicide in the July 2023 death of 24-year-old Long Island man Joseph Kelly.

Investigators said Singh was behind the wheel of a speeding New York City Department of Sanitation truck on July 3, travelling from Brooklyn to a Suffolk County commercial operation to prepare the vehicle for service. The sanitation department said he’s not one of its employees.

The suspect allegedly “failed to slow down or apply the brakes of the truck” when he turned onto a Hauppauge service road and smashed into several vehicles waiting at a red light, including the victim’s Honda Civic.

The 38,900-pound garbage truck’s momentum caused Singh to “barrel through the red light at the intersection,” the DA’s office contends.

The multi-car collision he’s accused of causing is said to have damaged five vehicles, including a school bus. Prosecutors claim the pileup created a debris field stretching approximately 300 feet.

“This defendant, who was allegedly driving a 19-ton truck, had a responsibility to drive prudently and cautiously,” Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said Friday. “Instead, he is alleged to have been speeding, causing him to crash into a line of cars stopped at the traffic light, resulting in the loss of Joseph Kelly’s life.”

Kelly, of West Islip, was killed on impact.

Criminally negligent homicide is a class E felony that carries a maximum prison sentence of four years. Singh is also charged with two counts of third-degree assault, reckless driving and driving at an imprudent speed.

The court ordered Singh to surrender his passport and suspended his driver’s license. He’s due to return to court May 17. The Suffolk County Legal Aid Society is providing Singh’s defense.