The National Transportation Safety Board has issued its final report on the October 2018 Schoharie limousine crash that killed 20 people, finding fault with both the limousine company and the state of New York.
The report, which can be read here, states that the probable cause was “Prestige Limousine and Chauffeur Service’s egregious disregard for safety,” the Department of Transportation’s “ineffective oversight of Prestige Limousine, despite its knowledge of the carrier’s multiple out-of-service violations and lack of operating authority, as well as the department’s inadequate repair verification process,” and the Department of Motor Vehicles’ “inadequate oversight of state-licensed inspection stations and its failure to properly register the limousine.”
The Oct. 6, 2018, crash at the Apple Barrel Store and Café in Schoharie, at the intersection of Routes 30 and 30-A, killed 17 passengers, the limousine’s driver, and two people in the Apple Barrel parking lot. The preliminary NTSB report focused largely on the defects of the brakes, and it's been said that the limo should have never been out on the road in the first place.
Prestige Limousine operator Nauman Hussain is charged with criminally negligent homicide and manslaughter in connection to the crash.