Limo in crash failed inspection
The supersized limousine that crashed, killing 20 people outside a country store, failed a safety inspection last month and shouldn’t have been on the road, and the driver wasn’t properly licensed, New York’s governor said Monday.
The state moved to shut down the owner, Prestige Limousine, as state and federal authorities investigated the cause of Saturday’s wreck in Schoharie.
The crash, about 275 kilometres north of New York City, came three years after another deadly stretch-limo wreck in New York state spurred calls for Gov. Andrew Cuomo to examine such vehicles’ safety. There is no evidence the state took any steps to do so.
As victims’ relatives tried to come to grips with the tragedy that occurred as a group of friends and family were on their way to a birthday party, authorities had yet to say how fast the limo was going or determine why it ran a stop sign.
The crash killed two pedestrians and all18 people in the limo, including four sisters who were heading to the birthday party.
The 19-seater vehicle had at least some seatbelts, but it was unclear whether anyone was wearing them, National Transportation Safety Board chair Robert Sumwalt said.
Investigators plan to examine the mangled limo’s data recorders and mechanical systems, as well as the road, which has a history as a danger spot. They are also looking into the driver’s record and qualifications, and conducting an autopsy to see if drugs or alcohol were factors.
But officials already saw some red flags, Cuomo said: The driver didn’t have the necessary commercial licence, and the limo failed a state inspection that examined such things as the chassis and brakes.
“In my opinion, the owner of this company had no business putting a failed vehicle on the road,” the governor said in New York City. “Prestige has a lot of questions to answer.”
He also said the limo — built by cutting apart a heavy-duty SUV and lengthening it — had been created without federal certification, though NTSB officials said they hadn’t yet determined whether the vehicle met federal standards.
A call to Prestige Limousine’s office in Gansevoort, N.Y., went unanswered. Federal records show the company has undergone five inspections in the past two years and had four vehicles pulled from service. State police said Monday that they seized three other cars from Prestige.