State Police pursuing criminal investigation

The man behind the wheel of the limousine that crashed in Schoharie County on Saturday, taking 20 lives, was not licensed to drive the 17-year-old vehicle _ which had failed multiple safety inspections, according to State Police and records reviewed by the Times Union.

State Police Maj. Robert Patnaude identified the probe into the crash as a criminal investigation. Sources close to the case said the agency's Major Crimes Unit is examining whether negligence was a factor in the crash, which could result in criminal charges.

"We'll determine if there's any criminal culpability on the part of anyone," Patnaude said at a press briefing at Troop G in Latham. "If there is, we'll hold them accountable."

State Police have not identified the limousine's driver, who died in the crash, but family members on social media have said he was Scott Lisinicchia.

Patnaude said the driver lacked the proper license to drive a limo with more than 15 passengers, excluding the driver. Asked if the 2001 Ford Excursion should have been on the road, he said: "The driver didn't have the proper license to operate it, so no, it shouldn't."

Asked if negligence was involved in the vehicle being on the road, Patnaude said, "That's part of our criminal investigation."

Ommegang Brewery in Cooperstown confirmed Monday that a member of the party had a reservation for Saturday at noon.

Patnaude was asked at the news conference whether victims' family members had told police that the passengers had sought a bus rather than a limo.

"I believe that they had tried to hire a different vehicle but it canceled for some reason, so the subject in charge of this excursion scrambled and found this company to satisfy their needs," Patnaude said.

The SUV-style stretch limousine was heading south on Route 30 when it went past a stop sign at the intersection of Route 30A and crashed, killing the driver, 17 passengers and two bystanders who were standing outside the Apple Barrel Country Store in Schoharie.

On Monday, media vans, tents and cameras clogged the parking lot of the business. On Route 30A, the vehicles of more than a dozen reporters lined the shoulder of the road. The tracks from the limo's tires remained visible in the mud leading into the ditch where the vehicle landed. A few feet away lay flowers placed by people paying their respects.

"It's a very difficult investigation for us to do," Patnaude told reporters. "We investigate fatal crashes all the time. But the magnitude of this one is different for us."

State Police and investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were at the crash scene.

Earlier in the day, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said the state is headed to court to get a cease-and-desist order to keep the business _ Prestige Limousine of Wilton _ from operating other limos until at least the NTSB and the State Police complete their investigations of the crash.

Troopers have seized all three of the firm's remaining limousines.

"We don't yet know the cause of the accident, if it was a vehicle malfunction, if it was a driver malfunction or driver error," Cuomo said.

Shahed Hussain, owner of the company, is in Dubai.

On Monday afternoon, Hussain's son, Nauman Hussain, who has operated the limo company, met with State Police investigators for several hours. Nauman Hussain was accompanied at the interview by his attorney, Lee Kindlon of Albany.

Kindlon, who declined to comment on the interview, said the state had been aware for years that the intersection where the crash took place is dangerous. He said the limo company's driver may have been unfamiliar with the roadway and misjudged his ability to stop as he descended Route 30 toward the intersection of Route 30A.

Residents and a town official said the intersection is notorious for its hazardous conditions.

"I think he came up over that hill unfamiliar with the territory. You just can't stop something like that," Kindlon said. "I think the state has been warned about that intersection for years and the Department of Transportation is just looking to point a finger."

Flaws in the limousine's hydraulic brakes were found during state Department of Transportation inspections conducted on March 21 and again on Sept. 4. The inspections also revealed that the vehicle was not certified to carry the 10 passengers it could originally hold before it was expanded into a stretch limo, according to documents filed after the inspections.

State rules require limousine owners to fix the problems within 15 days and alert the state. It is unclear if that happened after either inspection or if DOT followed up with Prestige Limousine.

The Sept. 4 inspection found multiple safety violations of a 2001 Ford Excursion, owned by Prestige, with the license plate TOGALUX1. The vehicle involved in Saturday's crash was a 2001 Ford Excursion, and there is only one 2001 Ford Excursion listed among Prestige's vehicles. The Excursion was cited in September for a malfunction of the ABS indicators for the hydraulic brake system; operating a commercial motor vehicle without proof of a periodic inspection; defective emergency exits; and defective windshield wipers.

The September inspection also cited a "failure to correct defects noted on previous inspection report" back in March.

In that March 21 inspection report, Prestige was cited for several issues with the brakes on the Excursion, including brake connections with constrictions and brakes out of service.

Prestige was also cited for operating the Excursion with seating in excess of the manufacturer's designed seating capacity.

It also was cited for several local law violations as well. In all, Prestige was cited for 22 violations to its vehicles in five different inspections in March and September.

Efforts to reach Shahed Hussain have not been successful.

State DOT officials declined to comment.

"That company and that vehicle have been under scrutiny in the past," Patnaude said.

Patnaude said police have possession of the vehicle's airbag control module, the so-called "black box." He said passengers were active on their cellphones and on social media prior to the crash. He asked anyone who was in contact with them to call police at 518-630-1700.

"All the information we can get is critical _ the black box information, the crime scene investigation, interviews, text messages, photos _ anything we can find will put together the full picture to find out if there's some criminal culpability on the part of anyone," he said.

Robert Sumwalt, the chairman of the NTSB, addressed reporters moments after Patnaude.

"We want to look at everything we can related to the company that operated that limousine," said Sumwalt, joined by NTSB vice chairman Bruce Landsberg and Pete Kotowski, the investigator in charge of the NTSB probe.

Sumwalt said NTSB investigators had an initial meeting with the limo company, which he said showed a willingness to cooperate with the agency's request for records. He said the NTSB will look at the operations of the driver and motor carrier, the operator's compliance with state and federal regulations, state and federal oversight of the company, the company's safety culture, its records of prior crashes and its management of drivers and issues such as fatigue, vehicle maintenance and driver fitness.

On Sunday, Sumwalt told reporters the Schoharie crash was the nation's worst transportation accident since the Feb. 12, 2009, crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407 in Buffalo, which killed 50 people.

"Twenty fatalities is just horrific," Sumwalt said of the Schoharie tragedy. "I've been on the board for 12 years, and this is one of the biggest losses of life that we've seen in a long, long time."

Meanwhile, Ommegang said in a statement: "We were incredibly saddened to learn of this horrible tragedy. Our thoughts are with the families and friends of the victims and all those affected by this terrible tragedy. We wish them all peace and comfort during this difficult time."

Rep. Paul Tonko, a native of Amsterdam who knows some of the families who lost loved ones, shed tears as he spoke to reporters following the news conference.

"The families deserve answers, and this thorough investigation needs to be just that _ thorough," he said, "so we can at least acknowledge what had happened for their sensibility so that they can better understand and, hopefully it will be instructive too, so we can avoid this in the future."

Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara said he wanted the state to launch a full review of the limousine industry's practices in the state and examine how the state oversaw inspections for limousines.

"I'm beyond upset; this is completely appalling," he said after hearing the news about the faulty inspection. "When they failed the inspection, how did they get back on the road?"

Santabarbara said he also wanted the state to examine similar intersections throughout the state.

"This is something the whole nation is looking at what happened," he said.

rgavin(at)timesunion.com - 518-434-2403 - Twitter: (at)RobertGavinTU