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The operator of the limousine company involved in the horrific weekend crash that resulted in 20 fatalities in upstate New York over the weekend has been arrested and charged with negligent homicide, state police announced at a Wednesday afternoon press conference.
Nauman Hussain, the son of owner Shahed Hussain of Prestige Limousine in Saratoga County, was taken in custody during what police called a controlled traffic stop on I-787 near Albany. Shahed Hussain is currently out of the country, but will return if asked, his lawyer said.
The stretch limousine involved in the crash failed an inspection in September and was not supposed to be on the road.
The limo driver, identified as 53-year-old Scott Lisinicchia, also did not have the proper license to operate the vehicle. Lisinicchia was one of 18 people in the limo killed. The two other fatalities were pedestrians.
State police said Nauman Hussain was aware of both the failed inspection and that the driver did not have a proper license.
The crash happened just before 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 6 at the intersection of State Route 30 and Route 30A in the Town of Schoharie in Schoharie County, located about 25 miles west of Albany, state police said.
"The sole responsibility for that motor vehicle being on the road that Saturday belongs to Nauman Hussain," State Police Superintendent George Beach said Wednesday afternoon.
It was the deadliest crash in the U.S. in nearly a decade -- on land or in the air -- since the Feb. 12, 2009 crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407 in Buffalo, which took the lives of 49 people.
A 2001 Ford Excursion limousine was traveling in a southwestern direction on State Route 30 and failed to stop at the intersection with Route 30A, police said.
The limo then traveled across the intersection into the parking lot of the Apple Barrel Country Stroke and struck a 2015 Toyota Highlander which was unoccupied and parked. The Highlander then struck and killed the pedestrians standing nearby.
The passengers in the limo were celebrating a surprise 30th birthday party. Two couples in the limo were newly married. Four sisters were among the fatalities.
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