Limo in fatal crash ‘should not have been on road’

THE driver of a supersized limousine involved in a crash that killed 20 people was not properly licensed, and the vehicle failed a state safety inspection last month and should not have been on the road, New York governor Andrew Cuomo has said.

New York state ordered the owner, Prestige Limousine, shut down while an investigation continues into what caused Saturday’s wreck outside a country store in Schoharie.

“In my opinion, the owner of this company had no business putting a failed vehicle on the road,” the governor said at a Columbus Day Parade in New York City. “Prestige has a lot of questions to answer.”

Federal records show the company has undergone five inspections and had four vehicles pulled from service in the last two years.

The crash killed two pedestrians and 18 occupants of the limousine, which was heading to a birthday party. Among the victims were four sisters.

One victim, Amanda Halse, sent her sister a text at around 1pm saying she and her boyfriend Patrick Cushing had got in the limo and the group was heading to Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown, according to her sister Karina. The crash happened before she got a chance to reply.

“My heart is sunken. It’s in a place where I’ve never felt this type of pain before,” Karina said as she visited the crash site.

Authorities did not say whether the limo occupants were wearing seatbelts, give the speed of the vehicle or speculate what caused it to run a stop sign at a junction.

Port-mortem examinations are being carried out, including on the driver, to see if drugs were alcohol were a factor.