Canadian court sentences Punjabi-origin truck driver to 6-year jail term in fatal crash while playing game on phone
PTC News Desk: A Punjab-origin truck driver in Canada has been sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to dangerous driving that killed a mother and her 11-year-old son and injured 10 others in a 2022 crash near Montreal.
Baljeet Singh, 29, was sentenced by a Quebec court. He has also been banned from driving for 10 years. Singh pleaded guilty in April to dangerous driving causing death over the July 2022 crash on Highway 30 near Longueuil.
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Court evidence showed that Singh was playing an online game on his cellphone while driving when the crash happened.
The accident killed 42-year-old Nancy Lefrançois and her 11-year-old son, Loic. Ten other people were injured.
After the crash, Singh was taken to hospital but left the following day. Investigators later found that he had travelled to Toronto, then India and eventually California.
Canadian authorities issued an international arrest warrant, and US federal agents arrested Singh in California in 2025. He was later extradited to Canada to face the charges.
Dangerous driving causing death can carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment in Canada. However, the court accepted the six-year sentence jointly recommended by the prosecution and defence, along with the 10-year driving ban.
The case received considerable attention in Quebec because of the deaths and evidence that cellphone use and distracted driving played a role in the crash.
- PTC NEWS
