On October 6, 2018, a fatal limousine crash in Upstate, NY took the lives of twenty individuals. A group of seventeen friends were riding in a limousine to a birthday party they were attending, when suddenly, their driver ran a stop sign and abruptly crashed into a vacant, parked car. The accident occurred in a small town known as Schoharie, NY, killing all seventeen friends, the driver, as well as two innocent pedestrians. According to authorities, this is the most catastrophic U.S. transportation incident since August 2009.
One of the limo company’s attorneys told ABC News that the limousine failed its safety inspection on September 4th, 2018, but only from minor issues. Yet, the New York State Department of Transportation contested this claim. The department argued that there was an error in the anti-lock braking system, which is not a minor, but rather a major issue. Hence, the limousine was not cleared to be on the road at the time of the accident. In fact, Joseph Morrissey, a spokesperson for the department indicated that the limo was due to have follow-up inspections after the failed inspection and that the owner was instructed not to operate the limo until it was cleared.
Clearly, the driver, Scott Lisincchia, disregarded this instruction and proceeded to drive it, taking the lives of 19 innocent civilians. Prior to the accident, Lisinchhia was also caught telling his wife about problems with the limos of the company he works for. Furthermore, ABC News later learned that Lisincchia did not have a driver’s license that provided him authorization to drive more than 15 people in a vehicle.
On Wednesday, October 10th, Nauman Hussain, the owner of the limo company, was arrested for “criminally negligent homicide”, according to police. This entails hiring an unlicensed, unqualified driver to operate a vehicle, putting a malfunctioning car on the road, and endangering the lives of everyone involved. Unfortunately, Hussain was, nonetheless, released on bail after pleading not guilty.
On Saturday, October 13, 2018, in the afternoon, a funeral service took place at St. Stanislaus Church, Amsterdam, NY. The funeral was held for eight of the 20 victims who lost their lives in this horrific incident. While the families will unfortunately never be able to reunite with their late family members, hopefully, those responsible for their deaths will be brought to justice.