Limo manager charged in deadly accident

Limousine service operator Nauman Hussain, 28, was charged Wednesday with criminally negligent homicide in a crash in upstate New York that killed 20 people Saturday. Hussain, who operates the company his father owns, pleaded not guilty to the charges and left the court after posting a $150,000 bond.

Hussain was stopped and arrested Wednesday on a highway near Albany, N.Y., his car packed with luggage, Schoharie County District Attorney Susan Mallery said. Hussain’s lawyer, Lee Kindlon, said Tuesday his client had received threats and felt unsafe at home. He suggested the New York Department of Transportation was trying to deflect blame to Hussain because the T-intersection where the accident happened was known as a dangerous traffic spot. It was rebuilt after a wreck in 2008, but there have been other accidents there since.

The limo in the crash, which was carrying a group of friends and relatives to a Cooperstown, N.Y., brewery, was written up Sept. 4 for code violations. Kindlon said the “safety issues had been addressed and corrected.” Department of Transportation spokesman Joseph Morrissey said any claim that the limo had been cleared for service was “categorically false.”

The driver, Scott Lisinicchia, who also died in the crash, had been told during an Aug. 24 traffic stop that he didn’t have the proper license to drive the vehicle. Lisinicchia’s wife said Tuesday he had often expressed concern about the company’s vehicles he was given to drive.

“The sole responsibility for that motor vehicle being on the road on Saturday rests with Nauman Hussain,” State Police Superintendent George Beach said, though he noted that investigators continue looking into whether anyone else should be held accountable in the crash.