From the New York Post: Federal transportation officials are probing whether a Chinese national blamed for a fatal highway pileup in Tennessee this week was illegally issued a New York State driver’s license.
Huang Yisong, 54, was allegedly behind the wheel of a tour bus early Tuesday morning and watching a video on his phone when he rear-ended a tractor-trailer, causing a chain-reaction crash that killed a 31-year-old truck driver and injured a dozen others, according to sources and reports.
Now, transportation officials want to know if he should’ve had a license at all.
According to WSMV-TV, the tractor trailer struck by the tour bus hit another 18-wheeler and veered into oncoming traffic on Interstate 40 and struck a Volkswagen Jetta shortly before 6 a.m.
WSMV explained that the driver of one of the tractor-trailers, identified as Kerry Smith, 31, of Tennessee, died in the crash. The driver of the Volkswagen and Yisong suffered minor injuries.
When Yisong was questioned and then arrested by Tennessee Highway Patrol, he failed an English proficiency test.
The New York State Department of Motor Vehicles is taking no responsibility, and denied that the agency wrongfully issued Yisong his commercial driver’s license. Instead, a spokesperson for the agency blamed the federal government.
In a statement, the spokesperson declared, “Let’s be clear: Regulating commercial driver licenses is a federal responsibility. It is the height of hypocrisy for leaders in Washington to place blame at states for following federal rules. This individual presented New York State DMV with valid federal work authorization, including a Social Security Card, prior to receiving a CDL.”
Transportation Sec. Sean Duffy voiced his outrage in a post on X Thursday evening, saying, “A Chinese national driving a motorcoach slammed into a vehicle in Tennessee, killing an individual and causing a major traffic jam this week. And to make matters worse: this driver had a non-domiciled CDL from NY and couldn’t speak English!
“This is EXACTLY why @POTUS and I are fighting to keep DANGEROUS foreign drivers OFF our roads. I’ve got more to say on this tomorrow. Stay tuned 👀.”
🚨A Chinese national driving a motorcoach slammed into a vehicle in Tennessee, killing an individual and causing a major traffic jam this week.
And to make matters worse: this driver had a non-domiciled CDL from NY and couldn’t speak English!
This is EXACTLY why @POTUS and I… https://t.co/422yhL6zBs
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) December 11, 2025
Huang Yisong, 54, of Brooklyn, NY, was booked in the Putnam County jail on 12/11/25.
Charge: Vehicular Homicide.
*For the misinformed articles & posts, this DID NOT happen in Davidson County (Nashville). https://t.co/2iYppIwVZG pic.twitter.com/0oKhSzGCOi
— maybe danielle 💻🚛🇺🇸 (@maybedanielleee) December 12, 2025
On Friday, Duffy announced that the State of New York has 30 days to comply with federal laws and STOP issuing non-domicile commercial driver’s licenses to truckers illegally, or he will yank $73 million in federal funding from the states.
BOOM! Duffy gives state 30 days to comply with driver’s license rules or lose millions
READ MORE from the New York Post.
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