A California father says Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office has repeatedly ignored his family’s pleas for help after a crash involving an undocumented truck driver left his young daughter with life-altering injuries.
“When Dalilah’s accident first happened, I reached out to the governor’s office, via phone as well as email. I received nothing back at all,” Marcus Coleman told The Will Cain Show on Tuesday.
Federal officials have said the June 2024 crash involved Partap Singh, described by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as an undocumented immigrant from India who was driving a commercial 18-wheeler. According to DHS, Singh failed to stop in a construction zone, setting off a multi-vehicle pileup that struck the Coleman family’s vehicle.
Critically hurt in the wreck was Dalilah Coleman, who was 5 at the time. Her father said she spent three weeks in a coma and has faced severe long-term consequences.
Now 7, Dalilah is nonverbal and undergoing intensive therapy as she relearns how to walk, Coleman said.
Coleman told host Will Cain that his family has struggled to cover the ongoing cost of care, claiming they were denied Social Security benefits and other forms of government support meant to help with treatment expenses.
“It’s just kind of left up to us to sit there and take care of what we need to take care of,” he said.
“I’m here… trying to make ends meet to satisfy her needs. And even then, we’re still falling short and there’s nobody there to help us with it,” he added.
A truck driver himself, Coleman also criticized California policies that allow foreign-born drivers to obtain commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs), arguing the rules are too lax and calling the situation “gross negligence.”
Dalilah’s case has drawn broader attention, including comments from Trump administration officials such as Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who referenced the case in a post on X.
“California’s weak leadership is failing Americans like Dalilah every day,” Duffy wrote.
Coleman echoed that frustration, arguing state leaders have not done enough for his daughter and are putting politics ahead of residents’ safety.
“I think they’re trying to do what’s going to favor them in the long run, no matter how many people it hurts,” he said.
Coleman said the only public acknowledgment he has seen from Newsom came in a social media post accusing President Donald Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem of politicizing the tragedy—something Coleman said “totally neglected” his daughter’s suffering.
“Pay attention to your people here in California. We’re the ones that should matter. I shouldn’t have to be reaching out to anybody else to help us when he’s here in California… He should have handled this,” Coleman said.
Fox News Digital said it reached out to Newsom’s office for comment and did not receive a response.
In September 2025, Newsom’s office said responsibility for the crash rests with the federal government rather than the state, and stated: “Our hearts go out to the Coleman family.”
