A Sacramento-area truck driver pulled into a remote Wyoming rest area in the middle of the night for a bathroom break. Less than an hour and a half later, another truck driver was in custody and the first was fighting through 17 stab wounds.
The attack happened around 3:27 a.m. Sept. 13 at the eastbound Bitter Creek Rest Area on Interstate 80, about 40 miles east of Rock Springs. A Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office release published by Wyo4News said deputies and a Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper arrived to find a man suffering from multiple cuts and stab wounds.
The victim, who has publicly identified himself only by his surname, Singh, is a Sikh truck driver from Northern California. He later told representatives of the Jakara Movement that the encounter began when another man approached him from behind inside the restroom and struck him in the head.
Singh repeatedly asked what was happening and why he was being attacked, his attorney told CBS News Sacramento. He said the other man never answered. Then Singh saw the knife.
No Words
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The assault appears to have unfolded quickly. Cowboy State Daily reported, based on charging documents it obtained, that Singh told dispatchers he had been attacked from behind while trying to use the restroom. He initially pushed the man away without seeing anything in his hand. That was when he noticed a knife.
The documents described wounds to Singh’s neck and chest among the 17 injuries he suffered.
Outside the men’s room, a family had heard grunting and screaming. They then saw a man run from the building and head for a tractor-trailer.
Instead of watching him disappear onto Interstate 80, members of the family followed.
They stayed behind the truck long enough to photograph the tractor-trailer’s identifying information and relay it to law enforcement, according to the charging documents. Meanwhile, the badly wounded Singh made his way out of the restroom.
The Associated Press reported that video from a truck parked at the rest area showed Singh entering the restroom, followed by a man police identified as Andrew Kris Bzdak. The other man was later recorded running outside, followed by Singh, who stumbled after emerging and fell at least once.
The family eventually returned to the rest area and helped Singh as he waited for emergency responders. He was later flown to a trauma hospital.
East on I-80
By then, the search had moved down the interstate.
The sheriff’s office said the attacker left toward Rawlins in a tractor-trailer. Wyoming Highway Patrol troopers found the suspect vehicle farther east and made an arrest without incident.
Prosecutors subsequently charged Bzdak with attempted first-degree murder. He remained jailed on $1 million bond as of Friday, according to AP.
Bzdak has not been convicted. The criminal charge is an accusation that will have to be resolved through the court process.
The family’s decision to follow the truck became an important part of that sequence. The identifying information witnesses gathered gave police another way to track a vehicle that had already put miles between itself and the rest area.
Back From Casper
Singh survived.
After five days at a Casper hospital, he was headed home Friday, the Associated Press reported. Despite what happened, his representative said Singh hopes eventually to drive his truck through Wyoming again.
CBS reported that the attack left him fearful in a way his work previously had not.
Singh had been driving alone through the state and stopped for an ordinary overnight break. According to his account, there was no argument preceding the assault and no explanation from the man attacking him.
That unanswered question has become one of the biggest parts of the case.
No Known Motive
Police have not identified a motive.
Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Jeff Sheaman told Cowboy State Daily that investigators had found no evidence at that point establishing the attack as a hate crime.
“We have zero motive,” Sheaman said.
Singh and Sikh community advocates have nevertheless raised concerns about whether his appearance or identity played a role. Singh was not wearing a turban during the attack, according to CBS, but was wearing a kara, the metal bracelet traditionally worn by Sikhs.
Those concerns are being raised against a broader dispute over rhetoric surrounding Sikh truck drivers. Days before the attack, a Department of Homeland Security social media post drew criticism after using the surname “Singh” in a message telling a truck driver to get off American roads. CBS reported that DHS said the post referred to a particular driver involved in a fatal Florida crash, while Sikh trucking representatives argued that its wording generalized an extremely common Sikh surname.
Community leaders and several lawmakers subsequently connected that rhetoric to their concerns about hostility toward Sikh drivers. That is their interpretation of the broader climate, not an established explanation for what happened at Bitter Creek.
There is currently no evidence publicly identified by police connecting the Wyoming stabbing to the DHS post, Singh’s religion or his ethnicity.
For Singh, the immediate outcome is less abstract. He survived 17 wounds, spent five days in a hospital and is now recovering at home after what began as a 3 a.m. stop along Interstate 80.