Victims in Florida Turnpike crash were Haitian immigrants, headed to Indiana: friends

The three victims of a fatal semi-truck crash on the Florida Turnpike near Fort Pierce earlier this month were Haitian immigrants who were traveling back to Indiana, two friends of one of the deceased told the Miami Herald.

Herby Dufresne, 30, whom the Florida Highway Patrol identified as the driver of the minivan that slammed into the 18-wheeler, killing himself and two passengers, had moved from South Florida to Indiana in hopes of finding work, said Livenson Pierre, a friend of Dufresne who lives in Canada.

Also killed in the tragic accident, which has garnered national and international attention, were Faniola Joseph, 37, and Rodrigue Dor, 54. Joseph, previously lived in Pompano Beach and Dor, in Miami.

Dufresne, according to a close friend in Haiti, arrived in Miami on Dec. 9, 2023, from Port-au-Prince. He was among the more than 200,000 Haitians who were legally paroled into the United States and given a two-year permit to live and work in the U.S. after obtaining a financial sponsor under the Biden-era humanitarian parole program for nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Although the program, known as CHNV for the initials of the nationalities involved, was abruptly ended earlier this year by President Donald Trump, Dufresne still had legal status under Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status designation, his friends said, and had moved to Indiana for employment opportunities. He had traveled to Florida “to accompany the woman who had come to shop,” the friend in Haiti said, adding that Dufresne and Dor were roommates in Indiana.

Like most Haitians, Dufresne had come to the U.S. in hopes of improving his lot while hoping things would improve enough in his troubled homeland for him to one day return. He was from Bon Repos, a community on the northern edge of the capital, where residents were routinely subjected to gang extortions and threats, even before the leader of a local armed group joined forces with other leaders to form a powerful gang coalition now in control of 90% of the Haitian capital.

“He had dreams,” said the friend in Haiti, recalling the day he left Port-au-Prince to take his flight. “But to be honest, he is someone who always knew he wasn’t going to stay in the U.S. He said he was leaving, but he would be back.”

The Miami Herald attempted to speak with one of Dufresne’s sisters in Miami, but the family has been reluctant to go public, friends say. A niece of Dor was also reluctant to speak when contacted by the Herald’s new partner, CBS4.

While Dor and Joseph died at the scene, Dufresne died at the hospital later that day. A father of a 5-year-old daughter living in the Dominican Republic and with another child on the way in Indiana, Dufresne was single. He initially studied journalism in Haiti, but in recent years was more focused on advancing Haitian culture.

If Dufresne had listened to his instincts, and one of his sisters, “He would not have died. She told him not to leave,” his friend in Haiti said. “He left the house without her even knowing.”

“He moved to Indiana because he couldn’t find work in Miami,” said Pierre, his Canadian friend, adding that he saw family members in Miami before taking to the road.

One of five children, he was the only boy in a family of girls, said his friends. “His mother has to be devastated,” said Pierre. “She loved her son; not only her, but all of his sisters.”

Dufresne was killed on Aug. 12 along with Joseph and Dor when their minivan hit a semi-truck being driven by Harjinder Singh, 28. Singh had made a sudden illegal U-turn at an “Official Use Only” area of the Turnpike about 19 miles north of Fort Pierce in St. Lucie County, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

Singh was blocking both lanes of the northbound Turnpike when Dufresne’s Chrysler Town & Country minivan hit the truck, crumpling underneath the 18-wheeler’s trailer.

The accident has garnered national attention because of Singh’s immigration status. After the accident, the Florida Highway Patrol announced that Singh, a native of India, had entered the United States illegally in 2018 after crossing the Mexico border. He later obtained a commercial driver’s license from California, where he lived.

FHP didn’t detain Singh after the crash and he returned to California. FHP issued a warrant for his arrest a few days after the crash, and he was taken into custody on Aug. 16 in California and extradited to St. Lucie County, where the accident occurred. Nor did FHP initially check his immigration status.

Earlier this week, a community group, Sikhs for Justice, announced it had raised $100,000 for the victims’ families, which Dufresne’s friends said was nothing. On Thursday, Sikhs for Justice held a prayer vigil outside the St. Lucie County Jail where Singh, whom the group said is a Sikh, is being held in custody until his trial. A judge denied him bond on Aug. 23.

Singh has been charged with three counts of vehicular homicide and three counts of manslaughter.

FHP said Dufresne, Joseph and Dor were all South Florida residents: Dufresne of Florida City, Joseph of Pompano Beach and Dor from Miami.

But the friends of Dufresne, who kept in frequent contact with him, said all three were living in Indiana. “He and Rodrigue were living together in Indiana, but not for long,” said the friend in Haiti.

She and Dufresne spoke hours before his death. “Herby died on a Tuesday and I spoke him that Monday. We always spoke.”

Dufresne had accompanied Joseph to Miami on a shopping trip, the friend in Haiti said. “You know in Indiana, people come down to Miami all the time to buy,” Pierre added.

On Thursday, the St. Lucie County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed that all three bodies had yet to be claimed by either family members or a funeral home. Dufresne’s mother, who has taken the news hard, is in Haiti. Because of recently enacted U.S. immigration policies by the Trump administration, banning Haitian nationals without current visas from entering the United States, she has no way of traveling to Florida to claim her son’s body.