Deadly limousine accident: driver's family believes he received a dangerous vehicle

SCHOHARIE, NY (AP) – Relatives of the limo driver involved in an accident that killed 20 people in upstate New York State said Tuesday that they thought that a dangerous vehicle had been attributed without his knowledge.

The family of Scott Lisinicchia issued a statement through the intermediary of a lawyer soon after another lawyer representing the limousine company, Prestige Limousine, said the driver might have been unfamiliar with the rural road.

Lisinicchia was driving the limousine which was crossing a stop sign Saturday at the bottom of a T-intersection on a rural road 40 km west of Albany. Two pedestrians and 18 people in the limousine celebrating the birthday of a woman have died.

The statement from Lisinicchia's lawyer stated that he would never have "consciously put others at risk" and warned not to jump to conclusions.

"The family thinks that he has unwittingly received a vehicle that could not be roadworthy and should not be able to roll," said Grant & Longworth.

Prestige Limousine has been criticized for maintaining vehicles in violation and using a driver without a commercial license. The fatal accident also shed new light on the company's owner, a former FBI informant.

The limousine that was following the stop sign was cited for violating the code on September 4, particularly because of a problem related to the anti-lock braking system malfunction indicator system. Four limousines of the company based in Gansevoort, New York, were cited for 22 maintenance violations this year, but none were found to be critical.

"These security concerns have been addressed and corrected," CBS News attorney Lee Kindlon said on Tuesday. "All offenses are not major, many of these things are minor and have been corrected."

The spokesman for the State Department of Transportation, Joseph Morrissey, said a sticker had been placed on the vehicle after the September inspection, declaring it "unusable". He added that Kindlon's assertion that the violations of the code had been corrected and that the vehicle authorized to perform the service was "categorically false".

Kindlon said that he did not think that these offenses had contributed to the accident.

He told The Times Union of Albany that the driver might have misjudged his ability to stop at the bottom of the long winding hill.

"I think he's crossed that hill without knowing the territory," Kindlon said. "I think the state has been warned about this intersection for years and that the Ministry of Transport is just trying to point fingers."

One of the victims, Erin McGowan, sent a text message to a friend telling her that the party bus supposed to take them to Cooperstown had broken down before picking them up and that the group had obtained a limousine instead. Girlfriend Melissa Healey. The New York Times. McGowan wrote that the limousine was in bad shape, with its engine "making everyone deaf".

The limousine, built from a 2001 Ford Excursion, followed the stop sign, crossed three lanes of traffic and struck an SUV parked before stopping in a wooded ditch.

Federal transport records indicate that Shahed Hussain, owner of the Prestige, was the owner of the Prestige after the September 11 attacks. He infiltrated Muslim groups posing as a terrorist in at least three investigations.

State police say Shahed Hussain is in Pakistan.

On Monday, his son, Nauman Hussain, who operated the limousine company, met with state police investigators for several hours, according to the Albany newspaper.

Kindlon declined to comment on the interview to the newspaper. He did not respond to calls soliciting comments from the Associated Press.

In 2014, Nauman Hussain and his brother were accused by the police of insisting that they were one for each other after a roadside check. Nauman Hussain was the passenger, but had a valid license. His brother does not have it. The police later discovered that Nauman had a long list of suspensions and convictions, which had been removed, according to the Times Union.

The Prestige's address is listed as a modest motel outside Saratoga Springs, owned by Hussain, based on tax data.

Local residents have complained repeatedly over the last few years to city code enforcement officials about the state of Hussain property.

In the spring of 2017, state health officials shut down the motel and its low-income residents were forced to temporarily leave after the rupture of a sewer line. The owner claimed that a disgruntled former tenant had sabotaged the infrastructure, but a building inspector blamed the problem for inadequate facilities and lack of support from the waste management lines.