LIMO OPERATOR CHARGED IN DEADLY CRASH

A limousine service operator has been charged with criminally negligent homicide in a crash that killed 20 people, while his lawyer said that police were rushing to judgment.

Prestige Limousine operator Nauman Hussain, 28, was taken into custody Wednesday in a traffic stop on a highway near Albany, New York State Police said.

The company, which Hussain’s father owns, has come under intense scrutiny since Saturday’s crash outside Albany killed two pedestrians and 18 people going to a party in a super-stretch limo.

Prestige’s vehicles have been cited with a roster of safety violations, and state officials have said the limo involved in the crash failed an inspection and was declared “unserviceable” Sept. 4.

“My client is not guilty,” Lee Kindlon told reporters gathered outside police headquarters in Latham. The family of the driver, Scott Lisinicchia, said he was unwittingly put in an unsafe vehicle.