California father says Newsom ignored him after illegal immigrant trucker left daughter unable to walk
A California man whose daughter was left unable to walk or speak after a crash involving an illegal migrant truck driver says California Gov. Gavin Newsom has ignored his repeated pleas for help, for years.
"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" Tuesday.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the crash was caused by Partap Singh, an illegal immigrant from India who was driving a commercial 18-wheeler. Singh reportedly failed to stop in a construction zone, triggering a multi-vehicle pileup, hitting the Coleman family’s vehicle.
Critically injured in the crash was then 5-year-old Dalilah Coleman. She spent three weeks in a coma and was left with severe, life-altering injuries.
Now 7 years old, Dalilah is nonverbal and relearning how to walk, requiring intensive and ongoing therapy.
Coleman told Fox News host Will Cain that his family has been left hanging in their requests for help, saying they were denied Social Security benefits and other forms of government assistance to cover Dalilah’s treatments.
"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 expressed frustration with California’s policies that allow foreign-born truck drivers to obtain commercial driver’s licenses (CDL) with what he described as minimal regulation, calling the practice "gross negligence."
Concerns over California’s CDL standards have drawn national attention, including from Trump administration officials like Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who commented about Dalilah’s case on Monday.
"California’s weak leadership is failing Americans like Dalilah every day," Duffy said on X.
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Dalilah’s father echoed that criticism, accusing California leadership of not doing enough for his daughter and prioritizing political interests over the safety of their constituents.
"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 acknowledgment they’ve seen from Newsom came in the form of a social media post accusing President Donald Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem of politicizing the tragedy – a message he says "totally neglected" his daughter’s suffering.
He argued that, as governor, Newsom is responsible for addressing incidents like Dalilah’s and shared a message for the California leader.
"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 reached out to Gov. Newsom's office for comment and did not receive a response.
In September 2025, Newsom's office argued responsibility for the crash rests with the federal government, not the state, and said the following in a statement to Fox News Digital:
"Our hearts go out to the Coleman family."