Limo service operator charged in crash
LATHAM, N.Y. — A limousine service operator was charged Wednesday with criminally negligent homicide in a crash that killed 20 people, while police continued investigating what caused the wreck and whether anyone else will face charges.
Nauman Hussain, 28, showed little emotion as he was arraigned Wednesday evening in an Albany-area court, and he ignored shouted questions from reporters as he left after posting $150,000 bond. A judge had entered an innocent plea for him.
Earlier, his lawyer said that Hussain was innocent and that police were rushing to judgment in investigating Saturday’s stretch limo wreck.
But State Police Superintendent George Beach said Hussain hired a driver who shouldn’t have been behind the wheel of such a car, and the vehicle shouldn’t have been driven after state inspectors deemed it “unserviceable” last month.
“The sole responsibility for that motor vehicle being on the road on Saturday rests with Nauman Hussain,” Beach said, though he noted that investigators continue looking into whether anyone else should be held accountable in the crash.
The company, Prestige Limousine, has come under intense scrutiny since Saturday’s crash killed two pedestrians and 18 people in a super-stretch limo. In the crash, the 19-seater limo ran a stop sign and plowed into a parked SUV at the bottom of a long hill in Schoharie, about 25 miles west of Albany.