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Operator in limo crash that killed 20 goes on trial in NY
Operator in limo crash that killed 20 goes on trial in NY
By MAYSOON KHAN and MICHAEL HILL
May 1, 2023
SCHOHARIE, N.Y. (AP) — Nearly five years after a stretch limousine packed with birthday revelers careened down a hill and off a road in rural upstate New York, killing 20 people, the operator of the company that rented out the vehicle is going on trial. ... Nauman Hussain, who ran Prestige Limousine, is charged with criminally negligent homicide and second-degree manslaughter in connection with the Oct. 6, 2018 crash — one of the deadliest U.S. road wrecks of the past two decades — in Schoharie, a village west of Albany. ... Jury selection began Monday in Schoharie County Court for a trial expected to last at least four weeks.
Seventeen people using the limo for a birthday celebration were killed, along with the driver and two bystanders outside a country store where the vehicle crashed. ... The victims’ relatives have been on an emotional rollercoaster ever since. After pandemic-related delays in the criminal case, they were exasperated by a 2021 announcement of a plea deal that would have spared Hussain prison time. A surprise twist came last fall when a judge rejected the deal, setting up the trial this week a few miles down the road from the accident site.
{snip}
The vehicle had been ordered out of service by state transportation officials a month before the crash after an inspection that was part of an investigation of Prestige for operating without proper certification. Prosecutors have argued Hussain removed an out-of-service sticker from the limo’s windshield. ... But the criminal case is complicated. The NTSB also said ineffective state oversight allowed Prestige to circumvent safety regulations and inspection requirements.
There also were issues with the shop Hussain used for repair work. State investigators say a Mavis Discount Tire store falsified billing invoices to make it appear there was brake work done on the limo that was not performed. ... Hussain’s lawyers contend he tried to maintain the limousine and relied on what he was told by state officials and the repair shop.
{snip}
Prestige was owned at the time of the crash by Hussain’s father, Shahed Hussain, a former paid FBI informant known for his role in a series of controversial domestic terrorism investigations before he returned to his native Pakistan. He has not been charged.
___
Hill contributed from Albany, New York.
By MAYSOON KHAN and MICHAEL HILL
May 1, 2023
SCHOHARIE, N.Y. (AP) — Nearly five years after a stretch limousine packed with birthday revelers careened down a hill and off a road in rural upstate New York, killing 20 people, the operator of the company that rented out the vehicle is going on trial. ... Nauman Hussain, who ran Prestige Limousine, is charged with criminally negligent homicide and second-degree manslaughter in connection with the Oct. 6, 2018 crash — one of the deadliest U.S. road wrecks of the past two decades — in Schoharie, a village west of Albany. ... Jury selection began Monday in Schoharie County Court for a trial expected to last at least four weeks.
Seventeen people using the limo for a birthday celebration were killed, along with the driver and two bystanders outside a country store where the vehicle crashed. ... The victims’ relatives have been on an emotional rollercoaster ever since. After pandemic-related delays in the criminal case, they were exasperated by a 2021 announcement of a plea deal that would have spared Hussain prison time. A surprise twist came last fall when a judge rejected the deal, setting up the trial this week a few miles down the road from the accident site.
{snip}
The vehicle had been ordered out of service by state transportation officials a month before the crash after an inspection that was part of an investigation of Prestige for operating without proper certification. Prosecutors have argued Hussain removed an out-of-service sticker from the limo’s windshield. ... But the criminal case is complicated. The NTSB also said ineffective state oversight allowed Prestige to circumvent safety regulations and inspection requirements.
There also were issues with the shop Hussain used for repair work. State investigators say a Mavis Discount Tire store falsified billing invoices to make it appear there was brake work done on the limo that was not performed. ... Hussain’s lawyers contend he tried to maintain the limousine and relied on what he was told by state officials and the repair shop.
{snip}
Prestige was owned at the time of the crash by Hussain’s father, Shahed Hussain, a former paid FBI informant known for his role in a series of controversial domestic terrorism investigations before he returned to his native Pakistan. He has not been charged.
___
Hill contributed from Albany, New York.