An arrest warrant has been issued for a tractor-trailer driver who authorities said was driving recklessly during a January snowstorm when the rig collided with an SUV driven by a Fayette County man, propelling it into West Virginia’s Cheat Lake.
The Monongalia County Sheriff’s Office charged Sukhjinder Singh of New York with negligent homicide. His age was not included in a news release.
Kevin Lataille, 59, of Smithfield, Fayette County, and his Hyundai Tucson were recovered from the icy waters near Morgantown on Jan. 26, a week after the SUV left the Cheat Lake Bridge on Interstate 68.
On Jan. 19, the sheriff’s office responded to a report of a jack-knifed tractor-trailer on the bridge. Singh told deputies he lost control of the rig during a snowstorm, according to the release.
The same day, Morgantown police got a missing persons report for Lataille after he didn’t return home from work in Morgantown. Location data from his phone received by police four days later showed his last known location near the bridge. Surveillance footage from the area showed the tractor-trailer sliding on the bridge and a passenger vehicle falling into the water, according to the release.
Investigators said they determined Singh was traveling at an unsafe speed for the hazardous road conditions.
“Witness testimony described Singh’s driving as reckless and even criminal,” authorities said in the release. “Investigators also confirmed that Singh’s tractor had struck another vehicle prior to reaching the bridge and failed to stop.”
A drone confirmed the SUV was in the lake. Dive teams from Murrysville Medic One and the Donora and Greensburg volunteer fire departments helped devise a plan to pull Lataille and the SUV from the frigid waters. The lake was frozen over and the ice was 8 inches thick at the time of the operation.
A diver located the SUV and connected it to a line dropped from a tow truck on the bridge. Damage on the vehicle was consistent with a collision involving the tractor-trailer, authorities said.
Lataille was a Navy veteran, according to his obituary.
