As with any traffic stop, never a good idea to blow.
Posted on 05/01/2023 1:03:55 AM PDT by Libloather
SCHOHARIE, N.Y. -- 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.
**SNIP**
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...
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Who is "King?"
Excerpt doesn't explain.
Regards,
I remember when this happened. Very ugly scene. I think I may have done some (the memory isn’t what it used to be) impact g-force math on this accident and the numbers were very high.
Ping
I hate going to alphaButthead networthless sites so You owe Me one.🧐
P.S.- That’s why the Excerpts Link is there. (aka, clickbait via lawyer scum)
“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.”
*******************
Wow - losing seven loved ones.
As with any traffic stop, never a good idea to blow.
I was at that very intersection the day before on a trip from Pennsylvania to visit my aunt in Amsterdam. We heard about in church when the minister announced it. Couldn’t wrap my head around it.
“Prosecutors say Hussain failed to properly maintain the limo and is to blame for the deaths.”
Hmm. I wonder how much they look into this kind of thing for other accidents. For example, in the past I’ve had brake pads wearing thin and then it took me awhile to finally get around to doing them. They were still okay, but what if they hadn’t been okay and I caused an accident?
I suppose it depends on how negligent one is. It is one thing to look at your pads and say “I should change those pretty soon” compared to “Yeah, we fixed the brakes and here are the receipts [fake] to prove it.”
Wow. That front end was designed to protect to a certain amount of force - but was based on the truck’s original weight. Obviously doesn’t hold up as well when you triple(?) the weight. I wonder if the limo company that built it did additional strengthening to the front end or anything. I would think they could be held liable?
Heck - even just building the limo and leaving the old brake system on would seem cause for a lawsuit.
Another exerpt:
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.
Note to self - never rent one of these modified limos.
If the brakes fail, don’t you just throw the car into first gear? Even automatic transmission can do that. It will destroy your transmission but at least you live.
Many problems -
Investigators uncovered problems with the limousine, the driver, and the limousine company. The state had ordered the vehicle removed from service after it failed two inspections due to mechanical problems including deficient brakes; a shop hired to fix the brakes allegedly made inadequate repairs and then falsified their records. The vehicle was only certified for 10 seats but had 18 installed. The driver lacked the required endorsement to his license for carrying 15 or more passengers.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schoharie_limousine_crash
Did You Post that on the original Thread ? I seem to remember that ( oddly enough).
IIRC it was more of a corroded brake line situation from road salting.
And even if the pads are worn down to the backing plate there’s still some braking, but not much !
I’ll stipulate all these facts, but my point remains: Throwing the vehicle into first gear may well have saved all those lives. Yes, the transmission would be shot. Yes, the engine would have over-revved and been destroyed.
But in the light of the 20 dead, that would have been insignificant.
This happened 4 1/2 years ago and is just now going to trial? Sheesh
They needed to wait until they could control the outcome.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.