Police investigate owners of bus, driver in wreck that killed 2, injured dozens

NEW ORLEANS—Louisiana State Police say they’re looking into the owners of a bus that hit a firetruck and other vehicles on an elevated stretch of Interstate 10, killing two people and injuring dozens.

Questions include whether the bus was in good repair and why it went out of control Sunday night, Trooper Melissa Matey said Monday.

It’s owned by a company with two names: AM Party Bus and Kristina’s Transportation LLC, she said.

Messages left with the party bus reservations agent were not returned. The listed number for Kristina’s Transportation is that of Ahmad S. Salem, who said he sold the company in January.

Matey said Sunday that investigators also want to learn more about the bus driver, Denis Yasmir Amaya Rodriguez, 37, of Honduras. Authorities want to clarify the driver’s connection to the bus—is he the person who rented the 2002 Eldorado bus, an employee of whoever did so, or an employee of the bus owners?

Amaya Rodriguez entered the U.S. illegally and does not have a U.S. driver’s license, Matey said. On Monday, she said records showed Amaya Rodriguez had been ticketed Aug. 5 for driving without a license. He’d been pulled over that day because the temporary tag for the 2000 Nissan he was driving was not visible, Matey said.

He was not asked then whether he was legally in this country.

Amaya Rodriguez remained in custody Monday, a day after his arrest on two counts of negligent homicide and one each of negligent injury, reckless driving and driving without a license.