NEW YORK _ A transportation company operator whose broken-down stretch limo blew through a stop sign before crashing in a horrific weekend crash in upstate New York that killed 20 people including the driver was arrested Wednesday and charged with criminally negligent homicide.
Nauman Hussein was pulled over during a morning traffic stop, and arrested in connection with the Saturday crash by state police who said he was directly responsible for the tragedy.
Officials said the cause of the crash that killed the driver, 17 passengers and two people in a Schoharie parking lot is still under investigation. But this much they said they know: Hussein put a driver without the proper paperwork behind the wheel a shoddy SUV that had no business being on the road.
"The driver he hired should not have been operating the type of vehicle involved in Saturday's crash," said State Police Superintendent George Beach. "He was cited with the violations. He knew this. The sole responsibility for that motor vehicle being on the road on Saturday rests with Nauman Hussain. That vehicle was placed out of service by the Department of Transportation in September of this year and should not have been on the road."
Sources said the vehicle was affixed with a large sticker after the failed inspection deeming it out of service. "This vehicle is NOT to be operated until repaired," the sticker read.
Hussein, 28, whose father owns the Wilton, N.Y.-based Prestige Limousine company, was pulled over along Interstate 787 in Watervliet as he was riding with his brother, Shahyer.
It was not the first time the siblings were in a car together during a traffic stop.
About four years ago, the brothers, who look alike, pretended to be each other when they were pulled over without identification with Shahyer, the older brother, behind the wheel, officials said.
The two were arrested after an investigation revealed that Shahyer's license was revoked and had 28 suspensions, that he had used his brother's identity before and that combined, the duo had been ticketed more than 70 times.
Hussein's father, Shahed Hussain, is currently out of the country.
His company owned the 2001 Ford Excursion that blew through a stop sign Saturday in Schoharie into the parking lot of the Apple Barrel Country Store, killing all 18 people in the car, including the driver, along with two people in the packed lot before slamming into an embankment.
The company's safety record and the vehicle's history report have come under intense scrutiny since the crash. The limo failed two inspections this year including one in March that revealed the hydraulic brakes were not working properly, officials said.
Hussein's lawyer, Lee Kindlon, said the arrest had "jumped the gun." He said the road was more of a factor in the crash.
"It was a known problem to the state of New York," Kindlon said. "Frankly, the Department of Transportation and the state of New York are doing a great job of saying, 'Look over there, it's not our fault!' Is this day a distractor for what the state of New York knew and when they knew it? That's always going to be up for answers."
The driver's wife, Kim Lisinicchia, told CBS that she overheard her husband, Scott, complain several times about the vehicle's safety.
"I'm not going to drive this, like this," she said, quoting her husband. "You need to get me another car."
