PHOTO: This file photo shows a head-on collision involving an 18-wheeler and a Clark County Sheriff’s Office patrol vehicle on Interstate 30 the morning of Oct. 3, 2024. | Clark County Sheriff’s Office courtesy photo
This post was updated 12/1/2025 to include comments from the defense.
By JOEL PHELPS | arkadelphian.com
ARKADELPHIA, Arkansas — A deportation has apparently pumped the brakes on justice in the case of an immigrant facing felony charges for driving an 18-wheeler the wrong way on Interstate 30 into a Clark County deputy sheriff’s patrol vehicle.
Satnam Singh was due to appear for a pre-trial hearing in Circuit Court in early November, but he didn’t show. According to court records, Singh’s counsel, North Little Rock attorney David Cannon, told Circuit Judge Blake Batson that his client had been deported.
Singh, 60, faces charges stemming from an October 2024 incident on Interstate 30, where the allegedly intoxicated Singh drove the wrong way on the highway and plowed into Deputy Fred Phillips’s patrol car, which Phillips had parked on the shoulder to intercept a tractor-trailer that callers had reported was traveling in the wrong direction.
While Phillips’s patrol SUV was totaled, the deputy miraculously survived the wreckage.
Clark County Prosecutor Dan Turner charged Singh with second-degree battery, second-degree criminal mischief and driving while intoxicated. Singh posted the $30,000 bond that was set for his release, using Bryce’s Bail Bonding Inc. of Higden, Arkansas.
As is usual for many defendants who initially plead not guilty and seek a jury trial, the case has had its share of continuances. Judge Batson has granted three continuances in Singh’s case, each at the request of the defense. The case was first continued in January to allow for more time to work out a plea agreement, then in April because Singh would be “out of the country” for an upcoming hearing, and finally in August as “plea negotiations [were] being worked on.”
When Singh was a no-show on Nov. 4 and Cannon declared that his client had been deported, Judge Batson issued a bench warrant for Singh’s arrest, with no bond. Singh also faces a new felony charge of Failure to Appear. The court has set a February hearing to determine whether the bond amount will be forfeited to Clark County. Singh’s last known residence is listed as an address in Alba, Texas.
Given Singh’s apparent deportation, whether the case will be adjudicated remains to be seen. Judge Batson declined to comment on the case. Singh’s legal immigration status isn’t known.
Cannon told The Arkadelphian that Singh’s family notified him of the deportation to India in late August or early September.
“It’s basically in legal limbo right now,” Cannon said, adding that the prosecution will not be able to drop the case because of the DWI charge. “If he ever comes back to the U.S. and gets picked up in a traffic stop, the state would extradite him back to face the charges.”
The prosecutor told arkadelphian.com that he has his doubts about Singh’s reported deportation. “I haven’t seen anything to confirm that he was in fact deported,” Turner said, noting that his office has made numerous phone inquiries to the feds but so far hasn’t gotten a concrete answer regarding Singh’s deportation status.
A criminal conviction would be grounds for an immigrant’s deportation from the. U.S., especially if the offense is an aggravated felony or a crime involving moral turpitude (including DUI if it caused injuries).
Given that Singh’s case has yet to be heard and no conviction has been handed down, we asked if the feds would have checked an immigrant’s background for pending charges before carrying through a deportation.
According to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) website, the agency’s Enforcement and Removal Operations officers will arrest immigrants with pending criminal charges in the United States, among other factors that play into deportation decisions.
“With the emphasis on ICE they may not check to see if there are active cases,” Turner said. “I plan to continue with prosecution until I see confirmation of deportation otherwise.”