It's been eight years since the deadly limousine crash that killed 20 people in rural Schoharie, New York. As litigation related to the tragedy winds down, WAMC's Lucas Willard and the Albany Times Union's Larry Rulison look back on the crash and its impacts.
Read the full transcript below:
Sam Dingman: This is WAMC's Northeast Notebook. I'm Sam Dingman.
Chris Fiore: A 2001 Ford Excursion Limousine was traveling southwest on State Route 30 and failed to stop at the intersection with State Route 30A.
Sam Dingman: Eight years ago, 20 people died after a limousine crashed in Schoharie, New York.
Larry Rulison: Those stories and those times talking to those people, that really affected me.
Sam Dingman: Now, with the operator of the company involved serving jail time, and with one remaining civil case yet to be resolved, we'll look back on the tragic incident and speak with reporters who followed the story about what's changed in the years since and what will never be the same.
Lucas Willard was working the weekend shift for WAMC on October 6, 2018, when the news broke.
Lucas Willard: And on that first day, as from someone not being on the scene, I didn't really pay it too much attention, truthfully. I was like, "Oh, it sounds like a bad crash. I'll wait for more information to come out from state police about it, and we'll take it from there.” It wasn't until later that day and the next day where, when we started to get all that information about it is when it sort of really got scary and heavy.
Chris Fiore: Good afternoon, I'm First Deputy Superintendent Chris Fiore of the New York State Police.
Lucas Willard: The limousine was traveling down a very steep hill, at some point lost its brakes, and came to the bottom of this hill, traveled through an intersection and into the parking lot of the Apple Barrel Country Store, which is like one of a farm store where people go to get a pastry or see that…the limousine went through the parking lot of the country store and struck a parked vehicle. Two bystanders were killed when the limousine traveled through the parking lot. The limo then came to a rest in a ravine at the other end of the parking lot.
Chris Fiore: In total, 20 victims were killed. All were adults. 18 of the victims were in the limousine, including the driver and the two pedestrians that were struck.
Sam Dingman: The news of the crash went national. Several of the victims, some of whom were celebrating their marriages, hailed from Amsterdam, New York. Remembrances and vigils were held within days as the community tried to make sense of what happened.
Lucas Willard: I remember a vigil where the Schoharie High School auditorium was just packed with people, and they played a bell. They rang a bell for every one of the victims and named the victims, ringing the bell each time. At one point, they played Bill Withers' "Lean on Me." Someone played it on a piano. And the first responders who witnessed the crash all got up and hugged in like a circle.
Sam Dingman: Yeah
Lucas Willard: It was such a terrible feeling, and it was it because it was so many people and so many families. Many of them, again, were from Amsterdam, which isn't a big town, you know. I spoke with the mayor of Amsterdam at the time, and his kids had gone to school with these kids. He knew them. He's seen them grow up in a way.
Mike Villa: It just really is a time where you know. I hope that you know you hang on to your faith, your family, your friends, and certainly our community, we'll do everything that we can to ease what is a pain that obviously is not going to be an easy burden for anyone to carry.
Sam Dingman: The legal drama that followed the crash was a roller coaster for the surviving families. The operator of Prestige Limousine is Naman Hussain. He was prosecuted, but eventually reached a plea agreement that avoided jail time. Mary Ashton, the mother of victim Michael Ukaj, spoke with WAMC after the initial agreement.
Mary Ashton: We're all mad. We're all so mad.
Sam Dingman: And while the initial plea agreement would be overturned and Hussain would be sentenced for 20 counts of manslaughter, the civil cases marched on. Attorney Cynthia Lafave represented some of the victims.
Cynthia Lafave: I hope that ultimately, we will find justice in the civil case and that the true story of everything that happened will be told in that case.
Sam Dingman: In civil court, the families sued Prestige Limousine, its owner and operator, New York State agencies, and Mavis Discount Tire, where the limo had been brought for safety inspections.
Larry Rulison: If you're a real legitimate limousine company with you know New York State operating authority, which this company, the Hussain's company Prestige Limousine, didn't have. You don't take your limousine to Mavis Discount Tire for service.
Sam Dingman: Times Union reporter Larry Rulison has closely covered the lawsuits filed in the wake of the crash, and recently covered the last pending wrongful death claim filed against Mavis by the family of Michael Ukaj.
Larry Rulison: They pretty much had a good case, and so you know, 19 out of the 20 families have settled with Mavis already.
Sam Dingman: During trial, an employee at Mavis's shop in Saratoga Springs, acknowledged accepting payment for repairs to the vehicle's brakes that were never completed months before the crash. He also testified to telling Nauman Hussain to “burn the vehicle” after it was brought back in weeks later. But Prestige Limousine continued to use the limo. Mavis, for the record, has denied wrongdoing, and in August, as Larry wrote, it was revealed that the remaining civil complaints against the state of New York were dropped. But beyond the terrible loss felt by the families, and the darkness cast by the crash on a small corner of upstate New York, there's another lasting impact from the incident, and that's changes in both state and federal law, made possible in no small part by the families of the victims. Kevin Cushing lost his son Patrick in the crash. He spoke with WAMC in May 2023 after prestige limousine operator Nauman Hussain was found guilty.
Kevin Cushing: Going forward, absolutely. I, you know, both my wife and I want to be an advocate for limousine safety.
Sam Dingman: Cushing was among family members who worked with state and federal lawmakers to enact meaningful limo safety changes.
Larry Rulison: For instance, before this, in New York State, you didn't have to wear a seatbelt in the back seat of a car. Today, you do, and it's because of them. And there's other things about limousines. I mean, basically, the limousine, the stretch limousine industry in New York is almost unviable at this point, and probably for good reason. I mean, those stretch limousines are like cut in half and put back together, and there's no regulation over that whatsoever, and there never has been.
Sam Dingman: Reflecting on the judgment against Hussain in 2023, Kevin Cushing called it "great news” for the families, but a jury's verdict can only go so far.
Kevin Cushing: We were at least going to be heard through a trial and through witnesses about what happened, how it happened, and who was responsible for it? So, we at least felt that there was a chance for some justice. So, what, you know, in reality, I don't think any of the family members believe there can be real justice when you lose a loved one, and there were 20 lost loved ones in this accident.
Sam Dingman: The owner of Prestige Limousine, Shahed Hussain, a former FBI informant, is not living in the United States, and while his whereabouts remain a mystery, he did speak with Larry Rulison in 2024. Meantime, his son Nauman is serving time at Attica Correctional Facility.
Larry Rulison: So, a minimum of five years, maximum of 15, you know, I've reported that he's ill. He's been ill, but we haven't, you know, totally verified all the details around that. But I wrote a story where you know his father told me that he has lung cancer, but he's out there and he's hired a new appeals attorney who's filed a motion to overturn the verdict in Schoharie County Court.
Sam Dingman: And for Larry, the tragedy and its aftermath has also had an impact.
Larry Rulison: Those stories and those times talking to those people that really affected me, and it was really…it's still really tough for me to even think back on those interviews. Those families, those people were so honest with us, and but I'm always thinking of them, you know.
Sam Dingman: Northeast Notebook is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. It was produced by our executive producer Lucas Willard. Our editor is Diane DeVore. Music by Eduardo Rivera.
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I'm your host, Sam Dingman. Thanks for listening.
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