Limo operator sentenced in fatal crash
SCHOHARIE, N.Y. — A former limousine company manager was sentenced Wednesday to at least five years in prison for his role in a crash that killed 20 people in rural New York.
Nauman Hussain, 33, was convicted of manslaughter this month after prosecutors argued that he intentionally failed to properly maintain an SUV-style stretch limo, which then failed to brake on a downhill stretch of road in Schoharie, a village west of Albany.
The 2001 Ford Excursion was packed with friends out for a birthday celebration on Oct. 6, 2018, when it hit a parked car and trees before coming to rest in a streambed.
Judge Peter Lynch sentenced Hussain to an indeterminate term of 5 to 15 years in prison. The state’s parole board will determine when Hussain will be released after he serves the minimum.
Some people who lost loved ones in the crash spoke directly to Hussain in court before the judge announced the sentence.
“October 6, 2018, is the date forever burned into my heart and soul,” said a tearful Bethany King, who lost four members of her family. “You have received a justified guilty verdict,” King said to Hussain, who was looking down, “while the rest of us here have received a life sentence.”
The limo’s driver, all 17 passengers and two bystanders were killed in the crash, one of the deadliest U.S. road wrecks in the past two decades.
Prosecutors presented evidence at the trial that the limo had been allowed to deteriorate, and that Hussain’s rental company had taken steps to keep it on the road despite a failed inspection.
The trial came after a judge rejected a plea deal last fall that would have spared Hussain prison time. His lawyer, Lee Kindlon, said he plans to appeal.