A California truck driver says he survived a terrifying middle-of-the-night attack at a Wyoming rest stop after another trucker allegedly punched him from behind and stabbed him repeatedly.
The victim, identified publicly only by his last name, Singh, was traveling through Wyoming early Sunday, Sept. 13, when he stopped at the Bitter Creek rest area along Interstate 80 for a bathroom break. Deputies were called to the scene around 3:27 a.m., according to the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office.
Singh told CBS Sacramento that he was inside the restroom when another man suddenly struck him in the back of the head.
He said he repeatedly asked the attacker why he was being assaulted but received no answer.
The confrontation then escalated into a stabbing, with Singh’s attorney saying he was stabbed 17 times before managing to break away and run outside.
A family at the rest area reportedly saw how badly Singh had been injured and rushed to help.
A father and son then followed the alleged attacker as he tried to leave in a tractor-trailer, helping authorities track him until Wyoming Highway Patrol troopers located him in Rawlins and took him into custody without incident.
Singh was transported for emergency medical treatment. The sheriff’s office said deputies found him with multiple cuts and stab wounds and confirmed that the investigation remains active.
Authorities have not publicly announced a motive.
The Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office said there is currently no known motive for the attack and no continuing threat to the public.
That unanswered question has left Singh and advocates helping him wondering why he was targeted.
Singh is Sikh and was wearing a kara, a metal bracelet traditionally worn as an article of faith by Sikhs. He was not wearing a turban at the time, according to CBS Sacramento.
Jasjit Singh, director of legal services for the California-based Jakara Movement, said the victim is concerned that his appearance or religion may have played a role.
“He feels like that may be part of the targeting,” Jasjit said.
But investigators have not determined that the attack was motivated by religion, ethnicity or any other form of bias, so it would be premature to label the case a hate crime.
The Jakara Movement is now assisting Singh as he recovers.
Jasjit also pointed out that the alleged attacker was another truck driver, making the apparently random violence even more difficult for Singh to understand.
“What drove this individual to do this?” he said. “This is another truck driver.”
The Bitter Creek rest area sits along Interstate 80, one of the country’s major east-west trucking routes and a heavily traveled corridor through southern Wyoming.
For now, investigators are still trying to determine what led up to the attack and whether there was any connection between the two drivers before the violence began.
