Limo in fatal crash failed safety test

SCHOHARIE, N.Y. • The supersized limousine involved in a crash that killed 20 people outside an upstate New York country store recently failed a safety inspection and shouldn’t have been on the road, and the driver wasn’t properly licensed, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday. The state ordered the owner, Prestige Limousine, shut down while an investigation continues into what caused Saturday’s wreck in Schoharie.

“In my opinion, the owner of this company had no business putting a failed vehicle on the road,” the governor said. “Prestige has a lot of questions to answer.” The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration also said it was investigating the crash, which involved a stretch Ford Excursion limo that Cuomo said had been rebuilt in a way that violated federal law. Calls to Prestige Limousine’s office in Gansevoort rang unanswered Monday. Federal records show the company has undergone five inspections and had four vehicles pulled from service in the last two years. Federal transportation records said Prestige is owned by Shahed Hussain, who worked as an informant for the FBI after the Sept. 11 attacks, infiltrating Muslim groups by posing as a terrorist sympathizer in at least three investigations. In one case, he helped convict men accused of plotting to bomb New York synagogues. Authorities didn’t say whether the limo occupants were wearing seat belts, give the speed of the limo or speculate what caused the limo to run a stop sign at an intersection and slam into a parked SUV by the Apple Barrel Country Store and Cafe. Autopsies were being performed, including on the driver, to see if drugs or alcohol were a factor. Friends and family members identified Scott Lisinicchia as the driver of the limousine on social media. The crash killed two pedestrians and 18 occupants of the limousine, which was carrying four sisters, relatives and friends to a brewery for a birthday party, according to relatives. Among the dead:

AXEL AND AMY STEENBURG

Newlyweds from Amsterdam, N.Y., who had married over the summer, according to Lester Andrews, Axel Steenburg’s stepfather. The couple rented the limo to celebrate Amy’s 30th birthday. “They did the responsible thing getting a limo so they wouldn’t be driving,” said Barbara Douglas, an aunt of the four sisters.

ABBY AND ADAM JACKSON

Amy Steenburg’s sister, Abby Jackson, was a teacher in the Amsterdam School District, according to The Times Union newspaper. She was married to Adam Jackson, who was also killed. The couple had two daughters, four-year-old Archer and 16-month-old Ellie.

MARY AND ROB DYSON

Amy Steenburg’s sister, Mary Dyson, was married to Rob Dyson, who was also killed in the crash. They lived in Watertown, N.Y. Mary was an Army veteran, engineer and Cross Fit coach, according to WWNYTV.

ALLISON KING

Allison King was Amy Steenburg’s sister.

RICH STEENBURG

Axel Steenburg’s brother, Rich, is survived by a 10-year-old daughter and a 14-year-old stepson. The Steenburg brothers both worked for Global Foundries, a foundry that produces semiconductors.

ERIN AND SHANE McGOWAN

They were just married in June at St. Mary’s Church in Amsterdam. She worked at a hospital and was studying for her master’s degree in special education. She was 34 and Shane was 30. “She was just such a pretty girl,” Rocco Semprivivo said of his stepdaughter. Erin McGowan texted a friend, telling her that a party bus that was supposed to pick up the group of friends to take them to a brewery had broken down on the way there. Instead, the group obtained a stretch limousine, which was in shoddy condition, McGowan told her friend.

The friend, Melissa Healey, shared the texts with The New York Times.

“The motor is making everyone deaf,” wrote McGowan, before Healey asked from where they rented the car. McGowan responded that she wasn’t sure, but then added, “When we get to brewery we will all b deaf.”

PATRICK CUSHING

A cousin of Erin McGowan, Patrick Cushing, 31, worked for the technology group of the New York Senate, his brother said. He loved photography and played for Team USA Dodgeball. He was the godfather to one of Adam and Abby Jackson’s daughters.

“He loved, hugged and cried with his friends and family like their problems were his,” his brother, Justin Cushing, said in a statement.

AMANDA HALSE

Halse, 26, was Patrick Cushing’s girlfriend. The two had dated about a year and lived together in Troy, N.Y. Halse was a waitress at a retirement community, was “a very strong and independent person” who didn’t like people to do things for her, according to her sister.

MATTHEW COONS AND SAVANNAH DEVONNE

Suzanne Douglass said her nephew, Matthew Coons, of Johnstown, had “a golden heart” and “made you laugh so hard until you cried.” Coons lived with Devonne, his girlfriend.