ford excursion limo crash

Schoharie limo crash trial begins. What to know about the case, wreck that killed 20

Jury selection began this week in the trial, which comes after a dramatic turnaround in the case last year when a judge rejected a plea agreement that would have meant no prison time for Hussain.

The 2001 Ford Excursion stretch limo barreled through a "T" intersection at the bottom of a steep hill in the rural town of Schoharie, about 30 miles west of Albany.

The limo crashed into an SUV parked in the Apple Barrel Country Store's parking lot, killing the limo driver, all 17 passengers and two bystanders.

The operator of a Saratoga County limousine company has gone on trial for his role in a 2018 crash that killed 20 people, after years of high-profile legal battles over the historic wreck on a rural road in upstate New York.

Nauman Hussain, 33, faces 20 counts each of criminally negligent homicide and second-degree manslaughter in connection with the Oct. 6 crash — at the time the deadliest road wreck in 13 years.

An appeals court recently upheld the plea deal rejection, clearing the way for the trial overseen by State Supreme Court Justice Peter Lynch in Schoharie County Courthouse, not far from the crash site.

Many relatives of people killed when brake failure sent the stretch limo hurtling down a hilly road — and turned a birthday celebration into an unthinkable tragedy — have also decried the plea deal for being too lenient.

Prosecutors are expected to argue in part that Hussain failed to maintain the limo’s brakes and removed a state-issued out-of-service sticker from the vehicle to use it for more jobs.

Hussain’s attorneys have argued he tried to maintain the vehicle and relied on what he was told by state officials and a repair shop that inspected it.

A year later, families mourn the 20 lost 20 people died in a horrific limo crash. A year later, loved ones talk about life and loss

What led to the limo crash?

Prestige Limousine, Hussain's company, was the owner of a 2001 Ford Excursion stretch limo that barreled through a "T" intersection at the bottom of a steep hill in the rural town of Schoharie, about 30 miles west of Albany.

Investigation: Brake failure, 'egregious disregard for safety' caused deadly NY limo crash, NTSB says

The limousine appeared to suffer brake failure and reached speeds of 100 mph as it descended, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

The NTSB was highly critical of Prestige Limo , noting the vehicle was ordered out of service by the state Department of Transportation prior to the crash because of issues with the antilock brake system.

But the NTSB also criticized a pair of inspection shops — including a Mavis Discount Tire in Saratoga County — that inspected the stretch limousine without proper authority to do so, as well as the state of New York for failing to seize the vehicle's license plates before the crash.

The limo crash occurred as 17 friends headed out to celebrate the 30th birthday of Amy Steenburg at a Cooperstown brewery. Steenburg was one of four sisters from the same family killed in the crash, along with three of their husbands.

The limo trial plea deal

The now-rejected plea deal, agreed to by Hussain and Schoharie County District Attorney Susan Mallery, called for a sentence of five years probation and 1,000 hours of community service.

Judge George Bartlett III accepted the plea deal, citing in part various issues that could have thrown a jury trial into doubt. Those included questions surrounding maintenance on the limo performed at Mavis as well as the state's oversight of Hussain's business.

Court: Judge nixes no-prison deal in 2018 limo crash that killed 20

Lynch, who took over the case after Bartlett retired, rejected the plea deal , calling it “fundamentally flawed.” He asserted, in part, that Hussain’s removal of the out-of-service sticker showed he knew the risk of putting the limo on the road, which made it improper to allow him to plead guilty to the lesser homicide charges instead of manslaughter.

In addition to the criminal trial, families of the crash victims have filed several civil lawsuits against Hussain and his father, Shahed Hussain, who owned Prestige Limousine and was once an undercover FBI informant, as well as others linked to the limo company.

An appeals court also recently denied a request by Mavis to be removed from one of the civil lawsuits, court records show.

Lee Kindlon, an attorney for Nauman Hussain, declined to comment on the criminal trial.

A Mavis spokesperson issued a statement in response to questions about the tire shop’s role in the case or civil lawsuit.

“Our thoughts and condolences remain with the victims of this tragic accident and their families. However, Mavis bears no legal responsibility for this tragedy," the statement noted.

USA TODAY Network and Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Operator of Limo Service Is Convicted in 2018 Accident That Killed 20

The operator, Nauman Hussain, could face up to 15 years in prison for the tragic crash in Schoharie, N.Y.

Nauman Hussain wears a dark suit and dark red tie while in court.

By Jesse McKinley

SCHOHARIE, N.Y. — It was a staggering and seemingly incomprehensible tragedy: a Saturday afternoon limo ride gone terribly wrong, leaving 20 people dead, including a large group of young friends and relatives headed to a birthday party.

On Wednesday, the operator of the company that rented out that vehicle — a 31-foot-long, five-ton 2001 Ford Excursion stretch limousine — was found guilty on 20 counts of second-degree manslaughter in the October 2018 accident.

The operator, Nauman Hussain, could face up to 15 years in prison when he is sentenced on May 31.

The verdict, announced to an emotionally charged courtroom and after less than a day of deliberation by a jury in Schoharie County, west of Albany, caps a nearly five-year ordeal for the families of the victims, which included all 17 passengers, the driver and two pedestrians outside a cafe and store in Schoharie, N.Y.

A 2020 report by the National Transportation Safety Board found that the limousine’s brake system failed on Route 30 outside Schoharie, causing the vehicle to career down a long hill to the valley below, eventually reaching more than 100 m.p.h., flying toward an intersection with another busy rural byway.

The driver, Scott Lisinicchia, managed to avoid a car but shot through the intersection, striking an S.U.V., which then struck and killed two pedestrians near the Apple Barrel Cafe, a popular local establishment. The limo then charged into a shallow ravine near the cafe, eventually coming to a stop on an embankment.

The crash was the nation’s deadliest transportation accident in nearly a decade, and the investigation soon took on a curious twist when it was revealed that the owner of the limousine business — Shahed Hussain — was a longtime F.B.I. informant.

At the time of the accident, Mr. Hussain, then 62, who operated the Prestige Limousine and Chauffeur Service with his son out of a low-rent motel in Saratoga County, was in Pakistan dealing with health issues; he has not since returned to the United States.

But Mr. Hussain’s son, Nauman, was soon arrested , with authorities noting a long history of safety violations for the vehicle involved in the accident, and the fact that Mr. Lisinicchia, the driver who died in the crash, was not licensed to operate such a massive limousine.

The Schoharie County district attorney, Susan J. Mallery, had repeatedly sought to tie Nauman Hussain, 33, to shoddy and dishonest oversight of his vehicles during the trial’s six days of testimony. That argument was echoed during a lengthy, often languorous, closing statement on Tuesday by Frederick Rench, who served as a special prosecutor in the trial.

“Mr. Hussain caused the deaths of the victims,” Mr. Rench said, outlining a variety of lies that the defendant had posted online about the condition of the limousine and citing Mr. Hussain’s “duty” to make sure the vehicle was roadworthy. “There is no doubt as to what his duty was.”

Even before the tragedy, the occupants of the ragged limousine — including four daughters from one family — had worried something was wrong. They sent texts — some joking, others more serious — saying that the vehicle’s motor was deafening, and that they smelled burning brakes.

Initially, the younger Mr. Hussain had reached an agreement with prosecutors to plead guilty to charges that would have spared him prison time , with five years’ probation and 1,000 hours of community service.

But that deal, decried by victims’ families , was invalidated last year by State Supreme Court Justice Peter Lynch, who called it “completely disingenuous and unacceptable.” Justice Lynch also oversaw the Schoharie trial.

Lee Kindlon, Mr. Hussain’s lawyer, called no witnesses. In a closing statement on Tuesday, he had argued that while his client was a bad businessman who had racked up a series of vehicle violations, he was not to blame for the accident, noting that Mr. Hussain had repeatedly sought to have the brakes on the ill-fated limousine fixed.

Indeed, during testimony last week, it was revealed that Mr. Hussain was misled by a manager at a Mavis auto shop who told him that the repair work on the brakes had been done, and that another employee had placed a Department of Motor Vehicles inspection sticker on the limousine — without doing the inspection .

“There’s a large gulf between violation of some regulations and people dying,” Mr. Kindlon said.

On Wednesday, Mr. Kindlon said he planned to appeal, even as the Saratoga County district attorney, Karen Heggen, indicated she may investigate the Mavis employees. Mr. Kindlon said he had briefly spoken with the elder Mr. Hussain, and said he had sobbed at the verdict.

Family members of the victims — many of whom were in their 20s and 30s — had filled the courtroom during the trial, weeping as the victims’ names were read, and applauding as the jury departed after announcing its verdict.

Mary Ashton, whose son Michael Ukaj was killed on his 34th birthday, said she felt relieved but also wanted others involved in the accident, including the Mavis employees, held responsible.

“I’m happy for my son,” she said. “He’s finally gotten justice. And that is exactly what I’ve been fighting for four and a half years.”

Jesse McKinley is a Metro correspondent for The Times, with an emphasis on coverage of upstate New York. He previously served as bureau chief in Albany and San Francisco, as well as stints as a feature writer, theater columnist and Broadway reporter for the Culture desk. More about Jesse McKinley

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Operator in Limousine Crash that Killed 20 Goes on Trial in New York

SCHOHARIE, N.Y. (AP) — Nearly five years after a stretch limousine packed with birthday revelers careened down a hill and off a road in rural upstate New York, killing 20 people, the operator of the company that rented out the vehicle is going on trial.

Nauman Hussain, who ran Prestige Limousine, is charged with criminally negligent homicide and second-degree manslaughter in connection with the Oct. 6, 2018 crash – one of the deadliest U.S. road wrecks of the past two decades – in Schoharie, a village west of Albany.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in Schoharie County Court.

Seventeen people using the limo for a birthday celebration were killed, along with the driver and two bystanders outside a country store where the vehicle crashed.

The victims’ relatives have been on an emotional rollercoaster ever since. After pandemic-related delays in the criminal case, they were exasperated by a 2021 announcement of a plea deal that would have spared Hussain prison time. A surprise twist came last fall when a judge rejected the deal, setting up the trial this week a few miles down the road from the accident site.

“All we can do is move on and hope that we can get justice,” said Tom King, the father of four sisters killed in the crash. “It’s not going to be closure for families that lost their kids. I mean, we lost four daughters and three sons-in- law in one shot. There’s no way we’ll ever make that up, no matter how many trials they have.”

Victim Axel Steenburg had hired the 2001 Ford Excursion limousine for an outing to celebrate the 30th birthday of his wife, Amy, who was King’s daughter.

The group was headed to a brewery outside Cooperstown, New York. The passengers ranged in age from 24 to 34 and included Axel Steenburg’s brother, Amy Steenburg’s three sisters and two of their husbands and close friends.

The National Transportation Safety Board found evidence of brake failure occurring on a long downhill stretch of road on the way to the brewery. The vehicle is believed to have reached speeds of more than 100 mph (160 kph) when it blew through a stop sign at a T-intersection and hit a parked SUV and several trees before coming to rest in a streambed.

Prosecutors say Hussain failed to properly maintain the limo and is to blame for the deaths. Schoharie County District Attorney Susan Mallery did not return a call seeking comment.

The National Transportation Safety Board found Prestige showed an ” egregious disregard for safety ” and took pains to avoid more stringent inspection rules intended to ensure the stretch vehicle had the braking capacity and other requirements for carrying a load heavier than it was initially built for.

The vehicle had been ordered out of service by state transportation officials a month before the crash after an inspection that was part of an investigation of Prestige for operating without proper certification. Prosecutors have argued Hussain removed an out-of-service sticker from the limo’s windshield.

But the criminal case is complicated. The NTSB also said ineffective state oversight allowed Prestige to circumvent safety regulations and inspection requirements.

There also were issues with the shop Hussain used for repair work. State investigators say a Mavis Discount Tire store falsified billing invoices to make it appear there was brake work done on the limo that was not performed.

Hussain’s lawyers contend he tried to maintain the limousine and relied on what he was told by state officials and the repair shop.

”Every day we talk about Nauman, the real perpetrators escape blame. We’re going to trial not just to defend an innocent man but to spur real accountability for those who could have prevented this tragedy,” Lee Kindlon, an attorney for Hussain, said in an email.

In an email, a Mavis spokesperson expressed sympathy for the victims and their families, called its billing policies “honest, fair and sound,” and said the company “bears no legal responsibility for this tragedy.”

The plea deal announced in 2021 called for Hussain to plead guilty only to the criminally negligent homicide counts. Under the deal, he was to be placed on probation for five years and perform 1,000 hours of community service, but serve no jail time.

“We were absolutely devastated by that,” said Kevin Cushing, who lost his son, Patrick Cushing, in the wreck.

An unexpected reversal came a year later when a judge rejected the deal as “fundamentally flawed.” Justice Peter Lynch, who was not presiding over the case when the deal was reached, reasoned that Hussain’s actions before the crash showed he knew the risk of putting the limousine on the road and pleading guilty only to the criminally negligent homicide charges did not reflect that.

Hussain then withdrew his plea, paving the way for a trial that is expected to last about six weeks.

Cushing is among the relatives who plan to show up for the trial and is set to testify. He feels he owes it to his son Patrick, his son’s girlfriend Amanda Halse and the other people in the limousine on that fall day.

“It won’t be easy,” Cushing said. “A lot of things in life aren’t easy, but there’s some things you need to do.”

Prestige was owned at the time of the crash by Hussain’s father, Shahed Hussain, a former paid FBI informant known for his role in a series of controversial domestic terrorism investigations before he returned to his native Pakistan. He has not been charged.

–Hill contributed from Albany, New York.

Top photo: A body is draped under a blanket at the scene of a fatal crash in Schoharie, N.Y., Oct. 6, 2018. Nearly five years after catastrophic brake failure sent a stretch limousine packed with birthday revelers careening down a hill and into a shallow ravine in rural New York, killing 20 people, the operator of the company that rented out the vehicle is going on trial. Jury selection was scheduled to begin Monday, May 1, 2023, in Schoharie County Court. (Tom Heffernan Sr. via AP, File)

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Nauman Hussain, 33, the former operator of Prestige Limousine, faces 20 counts of criminally negligent homicide in the Oct. 6, 2018 catastrophe that killed 17 revelers on their way to a surprise birthday party in Cooperstown, as well as the driver and two bystanders who were outside a Schohaire convenience store.

“This case is about personal responsibility,” Fred Rench, a special prosecutor assigned to the case, told jurors in Schoharie County Court, according to a report by the Albany Times-Union .

“The evidence will show [that] Mr. Hussain was made aware of his responsibility again and again and again in the months leading up to the crash,” Rench said. “Mr. Hussain’s choices led to the accident that caused the deaths of 20 people on Oct. 6, 2018.”

Police said the rented stretch limo, a modified 2001 Ford Excursion, careened down a hill at up to 100 mph, sped through an intersection and smashed into a car outside the Apple Barrel County Store & Cafe, striking the two bystanders and killing everyone in the vehicle.

None of the passengers were wearing seatbelts at the time. An independent review ordered up by State Police and the Schoharie County District Attorney’s Office determined that the Prestige limo had faulty brakes and had not undergone a state safety inspection for as long as two years before the incident.

Hussain’s lawyer told jurors Monday that a local repair shop and state Department of Transportation inspectors — not his client — should be held responsible for the deadly crash.

Attorney Lee Kindlon said the 31-foot limo should have been inspected and was even involved in a crash in the Mavis auto repair shop parking lot in June 2017 that a DOT investigator had been aware of.

“The accident was caused by the fraud and failure of Mavis to fix the brakes,” Kindlon said. “They know that they should be sitting here instead of Nauman Hussain.”

Nauman Hussain, 33, at left, is charged in the 2018 limo crash that killed 20.

Hussain, the son of limo company owner Shahed Hussain, a former FBI informant, was charged with criminally negligent homicide in the tragic wreck and later released on a $150,000 bond.

The younger Hussain cut a plea deal with prosecutors in 2021 that allowed him to dodge prison — but the agreement was nixed by a judge and upheld by an appellate court, opening the way for this week’s trial in at the Schoharie County Courthouse in Saratoga County.

Jury selection in the emotionally-charged case dragged on for five days, as prosecutors and defense lawyers weeded through 200 potential jurors before selecting the final panel of 16.

Violations found in 2001 Ford Excursion limo involved in 2018 crash.

The tumult continued on Monday morning, when one of the jurors was dismissed before opening arguments, according to the Times-Union .

The 2018 tragedy was the deadliest US transportation crash in at least a decade.

It inspired a package of measures approved by lawmakers in Albany that boosted safety requirements for stretch limousine operators.

The trial is expected to last five weeks.

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Limo in New York crash "not supposed to be on the road," governor says

October 8, 2018 / 9:02 PM EDT / CBS/AP

The supersized limousine that crashed and killed 20 people outside an upstate New York country store failed a safety inspection last month. The Ford Excusion limousine shouldn't have been on the road and the driver wasn't properly licensed, Gov. Andrew Cuomo 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. Federal records show the company has undergone five inspections and had four vehicles pulled from service in the last two years.

"In my opinion, the owner of this company had no business putting a failed vehicle on the road," Cuomo said while attending a Columbus Day Parade in New York City. "Prestige has a lot of questions to answer."

Investigators were reviewing text messages and social media posts from victims who were active moments before the deadly crash. Police seized four vehicles from the company including the one involved in the crash, and said the owner of the company could face criminal prosecution if they are at fault.

In a statement, Prestige Limousine said it "extends its deepest condolences to the family members and friends of those who tragically lost their lives" in the crash. "We are performing a detailed internal investigation to determine the cause of the accident and the steps we can take in order to prevent future accidents."

As victims' relatives tried to come to grips with the tragedy that happened as a group of friends and family were on their way to a 30th birthday celebration. Authorities did not say how fast the limo was traveling or speculate what caused the limo to run the stop sign.

Related story: Scene of horrific limo crash a longtime known danger, resident says

Investigators were conducting autopsies, including on the driver, to see if drugs or alcohol were factors. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) was also looking into whether the limo had any mechanical problems.

Cuomo said the driver, 53-year-old Scott Lisinicchia, didn't have the necessary commercial license and that the limo had been cut apart and lengthened in a way that violated federal law. He also said the vehicle failed a state inspection that examined such things as the chassis, suspension and brakes.

The wreck killed two pedestrians and all 18 people in the limousine, including four sisters who were headed with friends and relatives to a brewery for a party for one of the sisters. A vigil was planned Monday night in Amsterdam, where some victims lived.

"Can't wrap your head around it, you just can't," the sisters' aunt, Barbara Douglas, told " CBS This Morning ." "They were wonderful girls. They would do anything for you and they were very close to each other and they loved their family."

The limousine, built from a 2001 Ford Excursion, ran a stop sign at an T-shaped intersection at the bottom of a hill and slammed into an unoccupied SUV at the Apple Barrel Country Store and Cafe, a popular stop for autumn leaf-peepers.

"If an entire engine clock is moved back and crushed, there had to be a lot of force and energy with that crash," NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said Monday.

The crash appeared to be the deadliest land-vehicle accident in the U.S. since a bus full of Texas nursing home patients fleeing 2005′s Hurricane Rita caught fire, killing 23. Saturday's wreck was the nation's deadliest transportation accident of any kind since a 2009 plane crash near Buffalo, New York, killed 50 people.

Limousines built in factories are required to meet stringent safety regulations. But luxury cars that have been converted to limos like the one in Saturday's crash often lack certain safety components, such as side-impact airbags, reinforced rollover protection bars and accessible emergency exits.

There are few federal regulations governing limos that have been modified after leaving the factory. Regulations often vary by state and even local governments.

Ford said it has never made its own stretch version of the Excursion SUV. The automaker has a program that certifies companies that modify vehicles to Ford specifications, but it was unclear whether the limo in Saturday's crash was altered by one of those companies.

There were 12 wrecks — and a dozen crash deaths — involving large limos from 2012 to 2016, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That compares with over 157,000 crashes and over 171,000 deaths involving all types of vehicles during that period.

Related story: "I have never felt this kind of pain": Families mourn victims of horrific limo crash

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More jurors dismissed, witness testimony continues in Schoharie Limo trial

S CHOHARIE, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Two jurors were dismissed by Judge Peter Lynch on the second day of the criminal trial of Nauman Hussain.

Hussain is charged with 20 counts of manslaughter and 20 counts of criminally negligent homicide in connection with the 2018 limousine crash that killed 20 people.

The recent dismissals follow one juror being discharged before the trial could begin yesterday. Only one alternate juror remains for this case.

Before witness testimony could continue, defense attorney Lee Kindlon brought up an undisclosed federal criminal conviction from one of the witnesses, Lawrence Macera. Macera was the original owner of the 2001 Ford Excursion and originally modified it into a stretch limousine. Kindlon requested a mistrial yesterday afternoon after finding out about Macera’s criminal history via Google search and not disclosure from the District Attorney, Susan Mallery.

After discussion between both attorneys and Judge Lynch, Macera’s testimony was struck from the record. Mallery told the court his testimony was historical to the car and would not impact her case against Hussain.

So far, 6 witnesses have been called to the stand by the prosecution. Most of them spoke about their interactions with Hussain through his family’s businesses.

Chad Smith, an investigator with the New York State Department of Transportation, was the first witness to take the stand. He first noticed the 2001 Ford Excursion limousine involved in the crash at a Mavis Discount Tire in Saratoga County and flagged it for being out of compliance with NYSDOT commercial vehicle regulations in June 2017.

Special District Attorney Fred Rench asked Smith questions relating to his timeline of communication with Hussain’s limo companies and repeated attempts to set up a NYSDOT authorized inspection in 2018.

The court saw multiple emails between Hussain’s limo companies, Hazy Limousine and Saratoga Luxury Limo, relating to setting up inspection dates and notices that the 2001 Ford Excursion was not in compliance with commercial vehicle DOT regulations.

Smith described multiple attempts to inspect the vehicle between January and March 2018.

Once the vehicle was inspected, Smith says he noticed several problems and immediately took the limo out of service placing a windshield sticker on the vehicle that said it was not to be operated until repaired. Smith said he made follow-up visits to the car’s location in Saratoga to see if repairs were being made, or if it was being used up until August, when he was informed the car had been stopped by State Police on the road and that sticker had been removed. Then, he made an appointment for a second inspection for Sept. 4, 2018, just 32 days before the crash

The reports from both inspections list several of the same violations that Smith said required that limo to be ordered out of service, including a lack of DOT authorization and registration, malfunctioning emergency exits and issues with the brake system.

In March, the report said 25% of the brake system was inoperable and zip ties were used to hold some of the wires together.

Those issues were resolved by the September inspection, but there were other problems with the brake system that brought the vehicle out of service. Smith said Hussain did obtain a USDOT registration number between the two inspections, but did not have a state DOT registration number and there were also some inconsistencies with the business name he used and that it was registered under his father’s name.

Cross-examination began towards the end of the day and is expected to continue into Wednesday.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NEWS10 ABC.

More jurors dismissed, witness testimony continues in Schoharie Limo trial

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Matter of Schoharie Limousine Crash of Oct. 6 2018

Defendant Malik Riaz Hussain moves to dismiss complaints and amended complaints against him in nine coordinated actions arising out of the limousine crash in Schoharie County [*2]on October 6, 2018,[FN1] contending that he has insufficient connections to New York and the accident to support personal jurisdiction (see CPLR 3211 [a] [8]). Liaison counsel has filed opposition to the motion on behalf of plaintiffs in all nine cases, arguing that the motion is premature and plaintiffs should be allowed limited jurisdictional discovery. The Court held oral argument on December 16, 2020.

Because plaintiffs have made a "sufficient start" toward establishing a basis for personal jurisdiction, and because discovery is in its infancy with the facts necessary to establish personal jurisdiction largely, if not solely, in defendants' control, the Court denies defendant Malik Riaz Hussain's motion at this time, without prejudice. The parties will be given the opportunity to conduct limited jurisdictional discovery, after which defendant Malik Riaz Hussain may renew his motion for dismissal if he decides it is appropriate to do so.

On October 6, 2018, a tragic accident unfolded when a stretch limousine for hire — an altered 2001 Ford Excursion carrying 17 passengers — crashed at the bottom of a hill at the intersection of Routes 30 and 30A in Schoharie County, New York. All 17 passengers, the driver of the limousine, and two persons in the parking lot of the Apple Barrel Restaurant, located at the bottom of the hill where the crash occurred, were killed.

The administrators of the estates of those who lost their lives commenced lawsuits against Shahed Hussain, individually and doing business as ("d/b/a") Prestige Limousine and Chauffeur Services, among other d/b/as; Nauman Hussain, Shahed Hussain's son who was involved in the operations of the limousine business; Malik Riaz Hussain, Shahed Hussain's brother and Nauman Hussain's uncle; and Mavis Discount Tire, Inc. and other Mavis entities.[FN2] Defendants Shahed Hussain d/b/a Prestige Limousine and Chauffeur Services and Nauman Hussain have answered. Mavis Discount Tire, Inc. and related entities have filed a pre-answer motion to dismiss, which is not yet fully submitted. Addressed herein is Malik Riaz Hussain's pre-answer motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction.

Defendant Malik Riaz Hussain's attorney has accepted service on his client's behalf, but counsel contends that his client's contacts with New York and the limousine business are statutorily and constitutionally insufficient for New York to exercise personal jurisdiction over him. According to Malik Riaz Hussain,[FN3] he is a resident of Pakistan, brother of Shahed Hussain, and uncle of Nauman Hussain. He avers that he last visited New York for a vacation with his wife in 2006, and, with the exception of the motel property discussed below, he has owned no property in New York, has no brokerage accounts in New York, and has not had a bank account in New York since 1996. He claims he has had no involvement in Shahed and Nauman Hussain's [*3]limousine business, and that, before the crash, he did not know that they owned a limousine business or that they may have parked some limousines on the motel property.

Malik Riaz Hussain admits that from 2010 through May 2017 he owned the motel property in Wilton, New York, which is now owned by Nauman Hussain and another nephew, Shahyer Hussain. He bought the Wilton motel property in 2010 from his brother Shahed Hussain's then-wife, after Shahed told him he was having difficulty meeting mortgage payments. He avers that he purchased the motel and paid off the mortgage so that his family could use the property, and that he has never seen the motel or been involved in its operations. He contends that in May 2017, one year before the fatal crash, he transferred title to his two nephews, Nauman and Shahyer Hussain, for one dollar. He produced a copy of the deed, and he asserts that he only recently learned that the transfer of title was not filed in the Saratoga County Clerk's office.

Finally, defendant Malik Riaz Hussain avers that he is a principal shareholder in Bahria Town Pvt. Ltd., a real estate company incorporated in Pakistan in 1985, which employs 25,000 people and builds small suburban communities in Pakistan. Among its many offices worldwide, Bahria Town Pvt. Ltd. has a one-person customer service office in New York City. He claims he has never visited the New York City office or played a role in its day-to-day operations.

Plaintiffs oppose the motion. In their complaints, they allege "upon information and belief" that "at all times relevant" Malik Riaz Hussain "was at least a partial financier of [the subject] limousine business and exercised control over the operations of said limousine business"; that he "owned, in whole or in part, the limousine business being operated under one or more of the d/b/as"; and that he "exercised control over the limousine business being operated under one or more of the d/b/as." But while these allegations bear no evidentiary value, plaintiffs also rely on the evidence Malik Riaz Hussain himself submitted, and they have offered some documentary proof of their own.

Specifically, plaintiffs point to findings in the reports and documents related to the investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). These documents indicate that the Ford Excursion limousine involved in the crash was registered to Shahed Hussain at the Wilton motel address. And, according to the NTSB report, Shahed and Nauman Hussain listed the Wilton motel as the address of the limousine business on various applications for d/b/a certificates and other approvals submitted to federal, state, and local authorities between 2014 and 2018. Several of these applications were made when Malik Riaz Hussain concededly owned the motel. Plaintiffs also point to evidence suggesting that defendants' limousines, including the 2001 Ford Excursion involved in the crash, may have been parked on the motel property at various times.

And, plaintiffs argue, Malik Riaz Hussain's averments that he deeded the Wilton motel property back to his nephews a year before the crash and relinquished any further interest in his family's motel and its use are suspect because the consideration paid by the nephews was one dollar and the deed transfer was not recorded in the County Clerk's office. Plaintiffs argue that these facts, showing a substantial familial relationship with his brother and nephew and a past willingness to provide financing for their activities in New York, constitute a "sufficient start" to permit them to explore through limited jurisdictional discovery whether Malik Riaz Hussain "did transact business within the state of New York pursuant to CPLR § 302, and did have sufficient connection to the State" to warrant the exercise of personal jurisdiction.

When the defense of lack of personal jurisdiction is timely asserted, a New York court may not exercise special jurisdiction over a nondomiciliary unless two requirements are satisfied: the action is permissible under the long-arm statute (CPLR 302) and the exercise of jurisdiction comports with due process (see Williams v Beemiller, Inc., 33 NY3d 523, 528 [2019]; D & R Global Selections, S.L. v Bodega Olegario Falcon Pineiro, 29 NY3d 292, 297-299 (2017)]). "Due process requires that a nondomiciliary have 'certain minimum contacts' with the forum and 'that the maintenance of the suit does not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice'" (Williams v Beemiller, 33 NY3d at 528, quoting International Shoe Co. v Washington, 326 US 310, 316 [1945]). "If either the statutory or constitutional prerequisite is lacking, the action may not proceed" (Williams v Beemiller, 33 NY3d at 528).

New York authorizes special jurisdiction over a nondomiciliary through its long-arm statute, CPLR 302. As arguably relevant here, CPLR 302 (a) provides that a court may exercise personal jurisdiction "over any non-domiciliary, . . . who in person or through an agent":

On a motion pursuant to CPLR 3211 (a) (8) to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, the party asserting jurisdiction has the ultimate burden of demonstrating "satisfaction of statutory and due process prerequisites" (Stewart v Volkswagen of Am., 81 NY2d 203, 207 [1993]; see Archer-Vail v LHV Precast Inc., 168 AD3d 1257, 1260-1261 [3d Dept 2019]). In opposing the motion to dismiss pursuant to CPLR 3211 (a) (8), however, plaintiffs do not have the burden of "making a prima facie showing of personal jurisdiction; rather, plaintiff[s] need only demonstrate that [they] made a 'sufficient start' to warrant further discovery" (Archer-Vail v LHV Precast Inc., 168 AD3d at 1261, quoting Bunkoff Gen. Contrs. v State Auto. Mut. Ins. Co., 296 AD2d 699, 700 [3d Dept 2002]; see Best v Guthrie Med. Group, P.C., 175 AD3d 1048, 1050 [4th Dept 2019]; Avilon Auto. Group v Leontiev, 168 AD3d 78, 89 [1st Dept 2019] [holding that plaintiff need not present definitive proof of personal jurisdiction, but only make a "sufficient start" in demonstrating such jurisdiction by reference to pleadings, affidavits, and other suitable documentation]). Whether plaintiffs have made a "sufficient start" to warrant discovery pursuant to CPLR 3211 (d) is a matter within Supreme Court's discretion (see Archer-Vail v LHV Precast Inc., 168 AD3d at 1261).

Here, plaintiffs have made a "sufficient start" to warrant limited jurisdictional discovery [*4]pursuant to CPLR 3211 (d).[FN4] Malik Riaz Hussain himself has conceded that he contributed substantial financial resources to help his family members maintain their use of the Wilton motel in Saratoga County, New York as late as 2017. The NTSB documents submitted by plaintiffs establish significant interrelationship between the Wilton motel property and Shahed and Nauman Hussain's limousine business. According to those documents, Shahed and Nauman Hussain repeatedly used the Wilton motel address as the address of their limousine business when applying for certificates and permits from governmental authorities. Malik Riaz Hussain was the conceded owner of the Wilton motel property when many of these applications were made. The 2001 Ford Excursion limousine involved in the crash was registered to Shahed Hussain at the address of the Wilton motel. And it appears that limousines used in Shahed and Nauman Hussain's business were sometimes housed or parked at the Wilton motel.

If Malik Riaz Hussain indeed had transferred all his interest and control of the Wilton motel property to his nephews in 2017, a year before the crash, and if he indeed had no involvement in either the financing or control of the motel property since then and no involvement in the financing and control of Shahed and Nauman Hussain's limousine business at any time, the New York Courts would lack jurisdiction over him in a lawsuit alleging liability arising from the limousine crash on October 6, 2018. But plaintiffs have no way to test Malik Riaz Hussain's averments of non-involvement without limited jurisdictional discovery. Because of the circumstances of the other defendants in this case, plaintiffs have not been able to obtain discovery about the financing and operational control of the limousine business, or of the interrelationship between the motel business and the limousine business. Shahed Hussain reportedly resides outside of this country and has not appeared individually in these actions. And, given the pending criminal charges against defendant Nauman Hussain, plaintiffs have had little or no ability to obtain discovery from him regarding the financing and operational control of the limousine business or the interrelationship between the motel business and the limousine business. Plaintiffs' inability to obtain discovery from the other Hussain defendants weighs in favor of allowing limited jurisdictional discovery from Malik Riaz Hussain, before foreclosing that opportunity by premature dismissal of the claims against him.

Defendant's reliance on Gottlieb v Merrigan (170 AD3d 1316 [3d Dept 2019]) is misplaced. In that case, the Third Department affirmed the dismissal of a claim against a nondomiciliary on a summary judgment motion — after discovery and the filing of note of issue — finding that the defendant's activities did not amount to the transaction of business in New York and, in any event, that they lacked an articulable nexus or substantial relationship between the transactions and the alleged injury. As plaintiffs point out, however, in a prior appeal in the same case, the Third Department had reversed the trial court's order granting defendant's pre-answer motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, finding that plaintiff had made a "sufficient start" to establishing personal jurisdiction to warrant further discovery (see Gottlieb v Merrigan, 119 AD3d 1054 [3d Dept 2014]). There the Court observed, "[T]he issue of whether long-arm [*5]jurisdiction exists often presents complex questions; '[d]iscovery is therefore desirable, indeed may be essential, and should quite probably lead to a more accurate judgment than one made solely on the basis of inconclusive affidavits'" (Gottlieb v Merrigan, 119 AD3d at 1056-1057, quoting Peterson v Spartan Indus., 33 NY2d 463, 467 [1974]). Here too, limited discovery would shed more light on the facts to permit a more accurate determination of whether there is a basis to exercise personal jurisdiction over defendant Malik Ruiz Hussain. It may be, as in Gottlieb v Merrigan, that plaintiffs will uncover no sufficient basis for personal jurisdiction. But cutting off any attempt to uncover relevant facts by dismissing the claims against him now would be premature.

In sum, the submissions before the Court show that (1) Malik Riaz Hussain has familial relationships with the other Hussain defendants which have caused him to contribute financially to their New York activities; (2) as recently as 2017, one year before the crash, these familial relationships were close enough that Malik Riaz Hussain financed commercial property for their use — i.e. the Wilton motel in Saratoga County, New York; (3) the Wilton motel has been linked to the limousine business owned and operated by Shahed and Nauman Hussain, who identified the motel's address as their place of business; (4) the limousine involved in the crash was registered at the Wilton motel's address; and (5) the purported transfer of the deed for the Wilton motel property in 2017 to Nauman Hussain and another family member was not at arms-length. These facts, combined with the gravity of the loss in this case, render it inappropriate to dismiss the claims against defendant Malik Riaz Hussain without allowing plaintiffs limited jurisdictional discovery to explore his assertions that he has had no involvement with the motel since 2017 and no involvement whatsoever with the limousine business — either financially or operationally. Because plaintiffs have made a "sufficient start" to establishing statutory and constitutional connections to the business that owned and operated the limousine involved in the Schoharie County crash, defendant Malik Riaz Hussain's motion to dismiss is denied, without prejudice to renewal following limited jurisdictional discovery.

The Court emphasizes that it is authorizing only limited jurisdictional discovery, focused on Malik Riaz Hussain's financial transactions with the other Hussain defendants, and communications that potentially pertain to their activities in New York that occurred in temporal proximity to the October 6, 2018 limousine crash. The Court is not authorizing carte blanche discovery into Malik Riaz Hussain's personal and international business affairs, but only that discovery likely to be relevant to the claims in this case. The parties are invited to submit an agreed-upon plan to conduct limited discovery, on or before March 1, 2021. If the parties cannot agree upon such a plan, the Court will conference the matter and issue an order setting the schedule for and scope of limited jurisdictional discovery.

Accordingly, it is

Ordered that defendant Malik Riaz Hussain's motion to dismiss the claims against him in these nine coordinated actions for lack of personal jurisdiction is denied, without prejudice to renewal following limited jurisdictional discovery.

This constitutes the decision and order of the Court, the original of which is being uploaded to NYSCEF for electronic entry by the Albany County Clerk. Upon such entry, counsel for plaintiffs shall promptly serve notice of entry on all other parties entitled to such notice.

Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.

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20 people died in a horrific limo crash. A reporter’s persistence helped get their families justice

Reporter larry rulison and the albany times union are credited with exposing problems at the limo company that led to convictions and reforms.

Seventeen childhood friends from upstate New York expected to celebrate a 30 th birthday at a popular brewery the fall morning they boarded a noisy white stretch limousine. The outing through small towns and winding farm roads instead turned deadly when the limo’s brakes failed on a steep hill, catapulting it at more than 100 mph into a ravine.

Twenty people died in the Oct. 6, 2018 crash in Schoharie, New York; two recently married couples, four sisters, three of their husbands and the driver, among them, along with a man and his son-in-law in the limousine’s path. Babies lost both parents and parents were left childless in what federal transportation authorities called one of the nation’s worst road disasters.

Within days, as the tragedy gained international attention, the Albany Times Union showed it was no fluke. Instead, business writer Larry Rulison and colleagues documented how Prestige Limousine avoided repairing the 2001 Ford Excursion, just as the family who ran it had long ignored health and safety regulations and drawn investors into questionable business ventures. Even in this case, for a while it appeared they would again get off lightly.

Instead, Prestige Limousine operator Nauman Hussain began a hefty prison term this year, transportation laws are being rewritten, and the government is answering for huge gaps in oversight, due in no small part to Rulison’s exhaustive reporting.

“It was a really bad intersection and there’d been a lot of accidents, but nothing as bad as that,” says Rulison, 52, who reviewed years of records. “Everything that could have gone wrong that day went wrong.”

This Oct. 8, 2018 photo shows debris scattered in an area at the site of a fatal limousine crash in Schoharie, N.Y. that killed 20 people. (Hans Pennink/AP, File)

In 300-plus stories he documented repeated failures to keep a hulking, broken vehicle off the road. He captured the muddled response of state agencies, politicians and the courts — and kept families’ calls for answers in the public eye.

Ultimately, many people close to the case maintain Rulison helped reroute the limo operator’s sentence from community service and probation to state prison.

“You could go to the courthouse and see on days Larry broke stories that he was driving the agenda. People were responding to his reporting, and they didn’t always want to be,” says journalist Ben Ryder Howe, who drew from Rulison’s work in his May 2023 New York Magazine expose of the crash. “Things would not have happened the way they did without his reporting.”

Times Union reporter Larry Rulison. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

Rulison’s multipronged investigation of a tragedy in rural New York stands out as thinly staffed local newspapers often struggle to do much more than respond to breaking news.

Focused on eight counties and the state government in Albany, the Times Union once regularly published deep dives along with municipal news from all corners. Today, Times Union editor Casey Seiler says the staff of about 60 reporters, editors, photographers, clerks and stringers is about half of what the paper had when he joined in 2000. Allocating resources is a daily challenge.

But with fewer outlets able to stay on the weightiest stories, Seiler maintains doing so is even more important. And once Rulison started probing the limo crash, taking him off daily coverage of corporations and banks was the clear choice.

“If we weren’t going to throw resources into this story, why keep doing this?” says Seiler, the paper’s editor since 2020. “When you have 20 people dead, 17 from a single community, obviously that leaves an enormous hole in the lives of their family and friends and co-workers. And as this story went on, Larry found that it was connected to stunning regulatory deficiencies the families had to endure on top of everything else.”

Over five years, Rulison’s articles fanned out from New York’s capital region to the Missouri factory where the limo was stretched — even to Lahore, Pakistan, where, he reported, limo company owner Shahed Hussain remained as his son Nauman took the fall in New York.

Victims’ families relied on the paper to keep the story going. The drumbeat for answers brought solace, then results.

“My hands still get numb and my heart hurts and the tears start coming,” says Jill Richardson-Perez, whose son Matthew Coons, 27, and his partner Savannah Bursese, 24 , died. “But knowing a price is being paid, that (Nauman Hussain) is in jail, I breathe a little better. My shoulders can drop. I’m not fighting anymore.”

Rulison, a seasoned business writer who practically devours filings and databases, worked the Times Union’s early shift to accommodate his sons’ schedules. The first reporter in the suburban newsroom that Monday, he was put on the crash. He dived in, if somewhat clinically.

“Now, I’ve met all the families. But at the start I didn’t think I could handle it because, honestly, I cover banks,” Rulison recalls. “But we were outraged by the incompetence. That’s what journalism is all about.”

Within days, he and his co-workers nailed down the most significant factors:

Prestige Limousine owner Shahed Hussain had drawn headlines as an FBI informant involved in post-Sept. 11 counterterrorism cases against Muslim men. The Hussains were frequently accused of deceitful business dealings.

The state Department of Transportation had twice cited the doomed limo, including a month before the accident, for major failures and for lacking DOT authorization large commercial vehicles require. Instead, Prestige, which Nauman Hussain operated for his father, had a Mavis Discount Tire shop slap on the Department of Motor Vehicles sticker for smaller, lighter cars — without inspecting.

“Records obtained by the Times Union show the vehicle was driven nearly 1,300 miles … following a (DOT) inspection that found numerous safety and state transportation law violations,” read an Oct. 9, 2018, co-bylined story. “A TU analysis of 100 state limo companies found Prestige the worst violators for two years,” read an Oct. 11 Rulison piece .

Soon, he reported that while Shahed Hussain served as an informant, fellow Pakistanis said he persuaded them to open gas stations, taking the proceeds and leaving them unable to keep the lights on.

In addition, the Hussains operated Prestige from their rundown residential motel, which remained open despite years of unpaid taxes and sanitary violations. A year after the crash, Rulison reported the motel was on the market, a move a judge blocked to protect assets needed for crash victims families’ civil penalties.

… at the start I didn’t think I could handle it because, honestly, I cover banks . But we were outraged by the incompetence. That’s what journalism is all about.” Reporter Larry Rulison

Even when it veered from the accident narrative, such reporting kept the story on the front page.

“Larry was digging deep enough so that the public was seeing this was not an accident,” notes lawyer Cynthia LaFave, representing the estates of Abigail and Adam Jackson, who left behind an infant and a 4-year-old. “It was a tragedy that could have been avoided with the slightest care.”

Rulison says he benefitted from co-workers’ expertise with courts, police and government, and editors who put him on the story full time. There were plenty of sources with grievances against the Hussains, and records of the limousine’s decrepit state.

But Rulison, non-confrontational yet single-minded, also sought answers in places few looked. With help from an expert, he navigated a federal DOT website that would confound most consumers. He gathered thick dockets on the Hussains from across the country and from municipal offices in six upstate counties he visited.

While the state DOT denied all his requests for information, he said, this became something of a blessing as the documents he obtained through Freedom of Information filings often went beyond what he sought. After the TU questioned how the Hussains had been able to keep the limo on the road, the DOT seized dozens of out-of-compliance vehicles.

And Rulison alone located Shahed Hussain in Lahore after an exhaustive Facebook search.

“I tried to figure out what it would cost to go to Pakistan,” he half jokes.

Effusive in discussing his newspaper days in the Adirondacks in the 1990s and humbled to accept a cup of Panera coffee, Rulison is focused and understated in his work. His stories, largely unsentimental, pack a punch with their facts:

The limo driver lacked the proper license; another driver refused to use the car because of its faulty brakes. Prestige bought it for $1,200 from an operator who said it barely passed inspection. Seatbelts were stashed under the seats.

Rulison’s stories called out authorities on promised laws, reports and task forces that languished. In a mostly empty hall in Albany’s legislative office building, he reported in May 2019, families tearfully testified at a limousine safety hearing just two lawmakers attended in its entirety.

“They looked at us as grieving parents letting off steam,” recalls Kevin Cushing, who lost his son, Patrick, 31 and niece Erin McGowan, 34.

But the perseverance of such parent advocates resulted in an extensive series of safety measures. Among these, limousines that don’t pass an annual inspection are now taken off the road. Safety precautions — including the location of seat belts — are announced when passengers board.

“We got momentum because of Larry,” adds Cushing, who served on a limousine safety task force. “Maybe they thought we would disappear, but Larry doesn’t disappear.”

We got momentum because of Larry. Maybe they thought we would disappear, but Larry doesn’t disappear.” Kevin Cushing, parent and uncle of victims

Born in Syracuse, Rulison attended the Hotchkiss boarding school, once failing English and being told he’d never be a writer. But he did major in English at Colby College, then worked at community newspapers. He landed a job at Mutual Fund Market News, in Boston, where his editor, financial regulator Michael Garrity, eventually broke the Bernie Madoff story.

“He’d say ‘If you’ve got the documents, you’ve got them,’ ” recalls Rulison, who worked at business publications in Baltimore and Philadelphia before joining the TU in 2005. “He’d say ‘99 percent is boilerplate. You need to know the parts to look at.’ Now, when I get a pile of documents I say ‘I’ll be here for hours. I love it!’ ”

As the case progressed, Rulison grew accustomed to seeing his findings in court filings and sensed then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo responded to his coverage with limousine safety reforms. Lawyers called him for updates.

Even so, and despite the many ways he and other journalists showed the Hussains disregarded their passengers, tenants and investors, they appeared poised to avoid serious punishment once more.

From the start, the families and their attorneys worried about what they saw as Schoharie County District Attorney Susan Mallery’s tepid attitude. Federal authorities complained she damaged their investigation by keeping them from the wreck for months. She said she lacked resources to investigate fully. Families learned a no-jail plea deal was possible.

“It looked like she literally gave up,” says Rulison.

In fall 2019, though, he was diverted by his own startling subplot. His appendix burst, releasing 23 tumors. In a 12-hour surgery, a specialist plucked them out, poured in chemotherapy and rocked his body. “I thought I was a dead man,” he says. “I was so scared.”

Surgery and chemo treatments were excruciating. But there were stretches when he was pain free, and motivated. “On the way to Sloan Kettering I filed a story. I’d be in a doctor’s office working. We were breaking so much news,” says Rulison, now healthy. “The story kept me energized.”

His recovery coincided with the pandemic shutdown. The case slowed. As he could, Rulison continued reporting from his son’s bedroom . which he left only for doctor’s appointments and to toss a football in the yard. Illness, desolation and fear made him think more fully about those he wrote about.

“Being sick wasn’t exactly a blessing, but it made me appreciate things,” he says. “I was so green about crime and death. I didn’t get my hands dirty. And all of a sudden I started really sympathizing with the families. I started realizing, those people are so strong.”

In September 2021, before outraged families, Nauman Hussain pleaded guilty to 20 counts of criminally negligent homicide. In return, the deal called for probation and community service. Rulison, like the families and their lawyers, was stupefied by the light penalty. Families put their energies into civil cases. They braced for further despair in August 2022, when Nauman appeared for sentencing.

Nauman Hussain, right, who ran the limo company involved in the 2018 crash that killed 20 people, listens at a court proceeding in 2021. In 2023, he was found guilty of 20 manslaughter counts. (Hans Pennink/AP, File.)

Instead, like the culmination of a legal thriller, everyone in the packed courthouse was stunned to learn the judge who approved the deal had retired. In his place another judge threw it out, added 20 counts of the more serious manslaughter, and ordered a trial.

Over eight days in May 2023, testimony recounted Nauman Hussain’s role in avoiding repairing the car while continuing to book proms and weddings. The defense offered no witnesses. It took the jury just six hours to find Hussain, 33, guilty of 20 manslaughter counts. He was later sentenced to five- to 15 years in prison.

“I feel that the D.A. should have known this was a slam dunk, so why did she want to settle?” Rulison asks.

But thanks to his reporting, the most important questions were answered.

LaFave, who is representing the now school-aged children of Abigail and Adam Jackson, sees the outcome as potentially precedent-setting and immensely important.

“Now there’s some relief that the little children left behind can grow up and do a Google search and know society made Hussain pay,” she says. “At least they mattered. That’s maybe where Larry comes in. He made them matter.”

Author Jane Gottlieb previously worked at the Times Union in Albany before Larry Rulison joined the staff, and she did not know him before reporting this story.

Correction: This article was updated to correctly note how many counties the Times Union covers — eight.

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Trial Begins for Limousine Firm Operator Over New York Crash That Killed 20 in 2018

Nearly five years after a stretch limousine packed with birthday revelers careened down a hill and off a road in rural upstate New York, killing 20 people, the operator of the company that rented out the vehicle is going on trial.

Jury selection began Monday in Schoharie County Court for a trial expected to last at least four weeks.

Seventeen people using the limo for a birthday celebration were killed, along with the driver and two bystanders outside a country store where the vehicle crashed.

State Inspector Cites Regulatory Lapses in Fatal New York Limo Crash Feds Fault Operator, Regulators in New York Limo Crash That Killed 20 NTSB Finds Limo Owner Evaded Safety Rules Before Fatal New York Crash New York Governor Signs Limo Safety Bills Inspired by Deadly Crashes

Victim Axel Steenburg had hired the 2001 Ford Excursion limousine for an outing to celebrate the 30th birthday of his wife, Amy, who was King’s daughter.

Prosecutors say Hussain failed to properly maintain the limo and is to blame for the deaths. Schoharie County District Attorney Susan Mallery did not return a call seeking comment.

But the criminal case is complicated. The NTSB also said ineffective state oversight allowed Prestige to circumvent safety regulations and inspection requirements.

Hussain’s lawyers contend he tried to maintain the limousine and relied on what he was told by state officials and the repair shop.

“We were absolutely devastated by that,” said Kevin Cushing, who lost his son, Patrick Cushing, in the wreck.

Hussain then withdrew his plea, paving the way for a trial that is expected to last about six weeks.

“It won’t be easy,” Cushing said. “A lot of things in life aren’t easy, but there’s some things you need to do.”

Hill contributed from Albany, New York.

Photo: NTSB Post-crash passenger side view of the 2001 Ford Excursion limousine.

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New York Limo Crash: Son of vehicle owner in state police custody

SCHOHARIE, New York -- THE LATEST:

The son of the owner of Prestige Limousine, which owns the vehicle involved in the upstate New York crash that killed 20, is in state police custody in Latham, New York, ABC News reports.

It is unclear what charges he may face.

A relaxing Saturday afternoon turned into chaos when a limo driving on a rural road in upstate New York ran through a stop sign at the bottom of a T-intersection, went across the road and hit an unoccupied vehicle parked at the Apple Barrel Country Store, killing two pedestrians and all 18 people in the limo celebrating a woman's birthday. The driver was among the dead.

The collision happened in Schoharie, 25 miles west of Albany, which is a popular spot with tourists taking in the fall foliage. Witnesses reporting bodies on the ground and broken tree limbs everywhere.

Among the victims were newlyweds, young parents, four sisters and their friends.

RELATED: Remembering those killed in the Schoharie crash

Reports show that the limousine had failed a safety inspection last month in part because of a brake malfunction, ABC News reports.

Inspection records reviewed by ABC News show that the vehicle received a violation for "ABS malfunction indicators for hydraulic brake system." State transportation officials declined to immediately elaborate.

The inspection record shows six violations from the limousine's September 4 inspection, including a violation for "failure to correct defects noted on the previous inspection report." Prestige Limousine, which owns the vehicle, had 22 violations in the past two years, and New York State has moved to shut down the owner, Prestige Limousine.

Not only did the limo fail a safety inspection, but the driver wasn't properly licensed, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday.

"In my opinion, the owner of this company had no business putting a failed vehicle on the road," the governor said while attending a Columbus Day Parade in New York City. "Prestige has a lot of questions to answer."

The crash came three years after another deadly stretch-limo wreck in New York state spurred calls for Cuomo to examine such vehicles' safety. It was not clear whether the state took any steps to do so.

WATCH: Gov. Cuomo discusses deadly limo crash

The attorney for Prestige Limo, Lee Kindlon, spoke out on "Good Morning America" on Tuesday saying:

"We understand what the governor is saying, what the DOT is saying, certainly it is in their interests to point away from any failures on behalf of the state. But as we understand right now, the inspections last month were minor things, windshield wipers, a latch on a windshield that needed to be fixed. And all of those things were fixed and so one of the questions we are trying to help answer is any of those safety problems could have contributed to the crash. We want to make everybody know right now we are doing everything we can to answer those questions, along with the state."

In response to the GMA appearance, the New York State Department of Transportation released a statement, saying that these claims are outright false.

"The assertion that the limousine was cleared to be on the road following the September inspection is categorically false. The vehicle was subject to inspections and the owner was warned not to operate the vehicle; the vehicle was placed out of service," the statement read.

Scott Lisinicchia, the driver in the deadly upstate New York limo crash that killed 20 Saturday, was pulled over in the same limo on August 25 on Weibel Avenue in Saratoga Springs, where state police determined he did not have the proper license to drive it.

Police also notified Lisinicchia's employer, Prestige Limousine, that he "could not operate the vehicle without additional licensure." The police also took steps to ensure that the vehicle was taken off the road, returned to its original location and directed the driver not to drive the vehicle."

The notification was made with Nauman Hussain, the son of the owner of Prestige Limo. Nauman Hussain was also informed that the vehicle was not properly registered with the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Lisinicchia's family also spoke out after the crash, saying they believe his employer gave him an unsafe vehicle to drive.

The wife of Lisinicchia has retained the law offices of Grant & Longworth of Dobbs Ferry, New York, which released the following statement Tuesday:

The Lisinicchia family is devastated by the horrific tragedy that occurred in Schoharie and their prayers go out to all the families that lost loved ones. They are mourning their husband, father and brother, and they are also grieving for the other innocent souls who lost their lives. Mrs. Lisinicchia's husband Scott was a loving and caring man who never would have knowingly put others in harm's way. The family believes that unbeknownst to him he was provided with a vehicle that was neither roadworthy nor safe for any of its occupants. We ask all members of the media and public to reserve judgment on the cause of the crash until the New York State Police and the National Transportation Safety Board complete their investigations. Both agencies include some of the most highly skilled and well-trained accident investigators in the country. We also ask that you respect the family's privacy at this most difficult time.

The 19-seat vehicle had at least some seat belts, but it was unclear whether anyone was wearing them, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt said.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation. It is not yet known if it was caused by a vehicle malfunction, operator error or some other factor. Investigators have yet to determine whether the driver tried to brake.

The wreck left no skid marks investigators could see, but that might be due to misty weather or anti-lock brakes, Sumwalt said.

Investigators were conducting autopsies, including on the driver, to see if drugs or alcohol were factors, and the NTSB was also looking into whether the limo had any mechanical problems.

Police seized three additional vehicles from the limo company as part of the ongoing criminal investigation.

ABC News also reported Monday that the registered owner of the limousine that crashed over the weekend was once an FBI informant.

Shahed Hussain testified as part of two terrorism cases, including a 2009 sting operation that disrupted an alleged plot to bomb a Bronx synagogue. The other case was out of Albany and involved terrorism financing.

Hussain became an informant in 2002 after he was arrested on fraud charges while working for the state DMV.

He was caught helping immigrants cheat on driver's tests and cooperated with the FBI in order to avoid deportation to Pakistan, ABC News reported.

It is believed Hussain has in recent years gone back to Pakistan, leaving his sons to run the company.

The community came together Monday night to mourn and honor the victim killed in the crash outside a country store in Schoharie.

Witnesses, neighbors and family members of the victims were left grieving and trying to piece it all together.

The crash "sounded like an explosion," said Linda Riley, of nearby Schenectady, who was on a shopping trip with her sisters and had been in their parked car at the time at the store. When she got out of her vehicle, she saw a body on the ground, she said. People started screaming.

The store manager, Jessica Kirby, told The New York Times that the limo was coming down a hill at "probably over 60 mph."

In a Facebook post on Saturday, the store thanked emergency responders for their actions. The store posted Sunday that it was open "and could use your hugs."

The sister of one victim, Amanda Halse, said she was killed with her boyfriend, Patrick Cushing.

"My sister was someone who was very spontaneous and just liked to have a lot of fun," said Karina Halse, victim's sister. "She was just a great human being all around. She just wanted to make sure everyone was happy. She was the best sister I ever could have had in my life, I'm so grateful that I had her and I will cherish her memory forever."

Speaking through tears, Valerie Abeling, said her niece Erin Vertucci was among the victims, with her newlywed husband, Shane McGowan, and were on their way to the birthday party of a friend when the crash occurred. She said her own daughter had been invited along but couldn't go.

"She was a beautiful, sweet soul; he was too," Abeling said. She said the couple was married at a "beautiful wedding" in June at a venue in upstate New York. "They had everything going for them."

Vertucci was 34, McGowan 30. They met through Abeling's daughter. Vertucci, who grew up in Amsterdam, New York, was an administrative assistant at St. Mary's Healthcare in Amsterdam.

"This is one of the biggest losses of life that we've seen in a long, long time," Sumwalt said, the deadliest since February 2009 when Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashed in Buffalo, New York, killing 50 people.

Safety issues on such vehicles have arisen before, most notably after the wreck on Long Island in July 2015 in which four women on a winery tour were killed.

They were in a Lincoln Town Car that had been cut apart and rebuilt in a stretch configuration to accommodate more passengers. The limousine was trying to make a U-turn and was struck by a pickup.

A grand jury found that vehicles converted into stretch limousines often don't have safety measures including side-impact air bags, reinforced rollover protection bars and accessible emergency exits. That grand jury called on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to assemble a task force on limousine safety.

Limousines built in factories are already required to meet stringent safety regulations, but when cars are converted into limos, safety features are sometimes removed, leading to gaps in safety protocols, the grand jury wrote.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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Moscow Metro Crash , 10 dead

At least ten people have been killed and 120 people injured after three metro cars derailed near Moscow’s Slavyansky Bulvar station Tuesday morning. Deputy Mayor Pyotr Biryukov said 149 people had been injured, 106 of whom were hospitalized, news agency Interfax reported.

The derailment took place at about 8:35 a.m. between the Slavyansky Bulvar and Park Pobedy metro stations on the city’s Blue Line, a statement on the Moscow Metro website said.

Slavyansky Bulvar metro station has been temporarily closed as rescuers attend to the victims.

The crash is believed to have been caused by a decrease in the electric voltage running through the tracks of the metro, a spokesman for Moscow’s Emergency Situations Ministry said, Interfax reported.

In total, 200 people have been evacuated from the tunnel, Interfax quoted a representative of the Emergency Situations Ministry as telling local television broadcaster Moscow 24.

Preliminary reports suggested a number of passengers were still trapped inside one of the damaged cars.

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Accident over Zhukovsky airfield in August, 2009

Thread starter ghost
Start date Aug 23, 2009

The head of Russian Knights died...He was a brave man. And...some people say he was thinking to retire after August air show at MAKS-2009. Anyway, the Russian Knights is THE ONLY ONE in the world sky aerobatic team who performs the show on a heavy fighters...And..you would respect them twice more if you learn what scrap they have to fly on...

Active Member

ghost;179910]The head of Russian Knights died...He was a brave man. And...some people say he was thinking to retire after August air show at MAKS-2009. Click to expand...

Anyway, the Russian Knights is THE ONLY ONE in the world sky aerobatic team who performs the show on a heavy fighters...And..you would respect them twice more if you learn what scrap they have to fly on... Click to expand...

Russian Knights Accident Predicted... The Russian Knights commander, Col. Igor Tkachenko, seems to of predicted his own death. Col. Tkachenko had publicly commented on the poor state of the 4x Su-27P and 2x Su-27UB fighter jets recently, saying that the planes were in too poor a condition to be flown by a regular fighter squadron. He also said that the required maintnence was not being done and that the chances for something to go wrong were very high. There has always been complaints that the Su-27 is not the right fighter for demonstration team flying. The main reasons given by the pilots were the planes heavy weight, large dimension, inertness, peculiarities of the fly-by-wire control system and ,perhaps counterintuitively, its superior aerodynamic characteristics. Sadly, nothing was done and now another major accident involving the Knights has taken place. This time killing the team leader and injuring two other pilots and five civlians. Russia says that the MAKS 2009 airshow at Zhukovsky airfield will go on as scheduled.

GI-Gizmo said: The Russian Knights commander, Col. Igor Tkachenko, seems to of predicted his own death. Col. Tkachenko had publicly commented on the poor state of the 4x Su-27P and 2x Su-27UB fighter jets recently, saying that the planes were in too poor a condition to be flown by a regular fighter squadron. He also said that the required maintnence was not being done and that the chances for something to go wrong were very high. There has always been complaints that the Su-27 is not the right fighter for demonstration team flying. The main reasons given by the pilots were the planes heavy weight, large dimension, inertness, peculiarities of the fly-by-wire control system and ,perhaps counterintuitively, its superior aerodynamic characteristics. Sadly, nothing was done and now another major accident involving the Knights has taken place. This time killing the team leader and injuring two other pilots and five civlians. Russia says that the MAKS 2009 airshow at Zhukovsky airfield will go on as scheduled. Click to expand...

Defense Professional

ghost said: Anyway, the Russian Knights is THE ONLY ONE in the world sky aerobatic team who performs the show on a heavy fighters Click to expand...

What is certainly known is that Tkachenko quit his job shortly before the incident. Media reports claimed that the reason for this is the relocation of the Russian Knights training base from Kubinka near Moscow to Lipetsk. Apparently Tkachenko did not feel comfortable with leaving Moscow. No mention of maintenance issues were made in this article, published by avia.ru citing an Izvestya report on August 18. From all the reports I have seen so far (which wasnt much) no reason for the accident was mentioned. Observers of the area where one of the planes came down, mentioned unsual behavior of one of the Su's and that the pilot "could not do much about it except bailing out" but I am not sure if they were referring to the reason for the collision or what happend afterwards.

turin said: What is certainly known is that Tkachenko quit his job shortly before the incident. Media reports claimed that the reason for this is the relocation of the Russian Knights training base from Kubinka near Moscow to Lipetsk. Apparently Tkachenko did not feel comfortable with leaving Moscow. No mention of maintenance issues were made in this article, published by avia.ru citing an Izvestya report on August 18. From all the reports I have seen so far (which wasnt much) no reason for the accident was mentioned. Observers of the area where one of the planes came down, mentioned unsual behavior of one of the Su's and that the pilot "could not do much about it except bailing out" but I am not sure if they were referring to the reason for the collision or what happend afterwards. Click to expand...

Haavarla said: ok.. Do you have a link to this poor maintanance report? This acident was pilot error i think. Thanks Click to expand...

I hate to say this but I hope it was mechanical and not pilot error.especially if its the pilot that survived thats just a bad deal all around. With out video footage they may never conclusively know what happened.:frown

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IMAGES

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Timeline of the Schoharie limo crash over the past 12 months
Schoharie limo crash: What happened, and what's next
Deadly combination of crash site and limo company which led to tragedy
Unanswered Questions Remain One Year After New York Limo Crash That
Mystery surrounds who stretched Excursion involved in limo crash

COMMENTS

Schoharie limousine crash
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Operator in Limousine Crash that Killed 20 Goes on Trial in New York
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The converted 2001 Ford Excursion stretch limo crashed into an upstate New York convenience store on Oct. 6, 2018, after the brakes on the vehicle failed, killing 20 people, including 17 revelers ...
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Kindlon told the jury that Hussain couldn't have known Mavis lied about the work done on the 2001 Ford Excursion limousine or forsee the fatal crash. ... f the crash as catastrophic brake ...
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Matter of Schoharie Limousine Crash of Oct. 6 2018
These documents indicate that the Ford Excursion limousine involved in the crash was registered to Shahed Hussain at the Wilton motel address. And, according to the NTSB report, Shahed and Nauman Hussain listed the Wilton motel as the address of the limousine business on various applications for d/b/a certificates and other approvals submitted ...
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SCHOHARIE, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Several witnesses have shed light on the history of the 2001 Ford Excursion, the modified stretch limousine involved in the 2018 crash that killed 20 people. Donald…
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Instead, business writer Larry Rulison and colleagues documented how Prestige Limousine avoided repairing the 2001 Ford Excursion, just as the family who ran it had long ignored health and safety ...
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96L6E Radar, S-400. First S-400 bltn, Elektrostal, Moscow. There are no comments to display.
Accident over Zhukovsky airfield in August, 2009
The Russian Knights commander, Col. Igor Tkachenko, seems to of predicted his own death. Col. Tkachenko had publicly commented on the poor state of the 4x Su-27P and 2x Su-27UB fighter jets recently, saying that the planes were in too poor a condition to be flown by a regular fighter squadron. He also said that the required maintnence was not being done and that the chances for something to go ...