The Schoharie limousine crash was a fatal traffic collision which occurred on October 6, 2018. A rented stretch limousine, driven by a chauffeur and with multiple passengers, crashed at the junction of New York state routes 30 and 30A, north of Schoharie and west of Albany. The crash killed 20: the driver, all 17 passengers, and two pedestrians who were in a nearby parking lot. The passengers were mostly from communities around the Capital District, primarily Amsterdam, and were on their way to celebrate a birthday at Brewery Ommegang near Cooperstown. Among them were four sisters and two recently married couples.
Investigators uncovered problems with the limousine, the driver, and the limousine company. New York State officials had ordered the vehicle removed from service after it failed two inspections due to mechanical problems including deficient brakes; a shop hired to fix the brakes allegedly made inadequate repairs and then falsified their records. The vehicle was certified for only 10 seats but had 18 installed. The driver lacked the required endorsement to his license for carrying 15 or more passengers. The New York State Police (NYSP) determined the operator, Nauman Hussain, was aware of these issues yet continued to rent the vehicle, and he was arrested and indicted on 20 counts each of criminally negligent homicide and second-degree manslaughter. In a September 2021 plea bargain, Hussain pleaded guilty to the charges of criminally negligent homicide on the expectation that he would not be sentenced to prison, but almost a year later withdrew that plea at his sentencing after the judge insisted on some prison time. He was found guilty of all charges in May 2023, and sentenced to 5 to 15 years imprisonment.
Larger issues have been implicated. The National Transportation Safety Board questioned whether safety regulations governing limousines, which critics have called lax, are sufficient to protect passengers; in September 2019, the agency issued an interim report suggesting some passengers may have survived had they worn seat belts, and called on the industry and the state to do more to promote and mandate seat belt use. The intersection of the two highways, which residents found hazardous due to its steep downhill approach, was cited as a possible contributing factor despite efforts by the state to reduce the risk. The victims' families filed civil lawsuits against the limousine operator, the state, a Pakistani tycoon, the repair shop and the store in whose parking lot the two pedestrians were killed.
The crash was, at the time, the deadliest transportation-related disaster in the United States since the 2009 Colgan Air Flight 3407 crash near Buffalo, which killed 50. It was surpassed the following year by the sinking of MV Conception off of Santa Cruz Island, California, which killed 34. It was also the deadliest road transportation disaster in the U.S. since a 2005 bus fire in Wilmer, Texas killed 23 nursing home residents evacuating from the path of Hurricane Rita.
Background Axel Steenburg and his wife Amy, of Amsterdam, New York, had planned an outing with family and close friends at Brewery Ommegang, south of Cooperstown, to celebrate Amy's 30th birthday on October 6, 2018. Steenburg arranged for a party bus to provide transport. That morning the group, aged 24 to 34, gathered at the Steenburg home. Included were all three of Amy's sisters, two of their husbands, and Axel's brother.
The party had a noon reservation at Ommegang, but that morning Axel Steenburg learned that the bus had broken down and he arranged transportation through Prestige Limousine Services, based in Gansevoort, for $1,475. Prestige sent a stretch limousine, a 2001 Ford Excursion with a capacity of 18 people.
Driver Prestige driver Scott Lisinicchia had complained about the safety of the company's vehicles. His wife recalled overhearing him on the phone, when the company called with an assignment, complaining that he would not drive a particular vehicle and requesting another one. As a former truck driver, he held a valid commercial driver's license (CDL), but lacked the "P" endorsement required for transport of 15 or more passengers. Lisinicchia had been cited for driving without this endorsement. Due to his outstanding traffic tickets his license should have been suspended. Due to a clerical error, this had not been done.
A couple who had rented the Excursion a year earlier said that Lisinicchia drove erratically, making dangerous maneuvers such as backing up on a busy road to make a turn he had missed. At the time of the crash, Lisinicchia was not listed on the limousine's insurance policy as a driver.
Crash
Delayed by the change in vehicle, the group left Amsterdam late. The Excursion left the city and went first west on the New York State Thruway, then south on New York State Route 30A (NY 30A), a long winding two-lane rural road. Why the group chose this route is not known; investigators speculated that stops were planned between Amsterdam and the brewery.
Near Schoharie Creek, NY 30A joins New York State Route 7, which the driver turned left to join. A mile east of that junction, NY 30A leaves the concurrency to continue south towards an interchange with Interstate 88. The Excursion went instead east on NY 7, climbing in two miles (3.2 km) to its blinkered intersection with New York State Route 30, where it turned right, south, towards Schoharie. Immediately south of the intersection, before NY 30 crosses over I-88, several sets of signs topped by paired orange diamonds warn that trucks are not permitted on this stretch of road and advise them to use NY 7 instead. For those drivers who continue south, many more signs warn drivers about the steep grade ahead, through which the speed limit is ; a sign located from the intersection indicates the limit is reduced to at that point.
The state's crash investigator determined that the vehicle had departed from its course, as the turn to the NY 30 junction is not the most direct route from Amsterdam to Ommegang. It was speculated that the group had either changed their minds completely about the trip, or had decided to stop at the Apple Barrel. Another theory is that Lisinicchia may have been lost. The occupants of a vehicle going south on NY 30 recalled that they had been stopped at the intersection while the Excursion turned. They described Lisinicchia's appearance as "confused" and "frazzled", and noted that immediately after turning, the vehicle pulled over onto the shoulder and put its flashers on. They believe this occurred less than two minutes before the crash based on the driver's own experience of traveling the road. The witness recalled that the Excursion slowly rolled forward although its backup lights and back-up beepers were on. They continued past it. A passenger in the vehicle said that they saw Lisinicchia pointing toward the valley.
At the bottom of the hill is a right-angled three-way intersection where NY 30A forks off to the north while NY 30 turns southward toward Schoharie, two miles (3.2km) away. Southbound traffic on NY 30 is required to stop; a sign warns of this several hundred feet uphill of the intersection. When the Excursion reached the junction, at 1:55 p.m., it did not stop and was, according to witnesses, going very fast. The witness who had earlier seen the Excursion on the side of the road recalled that after they stopped at the intersection, they saw the limousine coming downhill behind them, its speed increasing. They recalled that the vehicle's engine was loud, almost sounding like a jet. They feared they would be hit but at the last second it swerved around them.
The vehicle continued into the parking lot of the nearby Apple Barrel Country Store where it struck a parked 2015 Toyota Highlander and came to a stop in a gully.
Victims Two pedestrians attempting to flee were struck and killed by the Highlander as it was propelled into a drainage ditch away. All 18 people in the limousine died, with all but two pronounced dead at the scene. The other two were transported to a hospital in nearby Cobleskill, where one was pronounced dead on arrival; the other was transferred by helicopter to Albany Medical Center and pronounced dead there.
Investigations Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) went to the scene of the crash. A state trooper told reporters that the state police had deployed a reconstruction unit, facial identification and a drone in order to gather data about the crash and the victims.
NTSB head Robert Sumwalt told reporters two days after the crash that it was too early to say whether the limo had been speeding at the time; the agency was focusing on human and mechanical factors as causes. It was, however, a "high-energy impact" that had severely damaged the front and left portions of the vehicle, driving the engine into the passenger compartment. There were no skid marks on the pavement, suggesting the driver had not applied the brakes, or that they had not been functioning well, before reaching the stop sign. Investigators would be looking at the airbag control module for data that might answer their questions.
Robert Patnaude, commander of NYSP Troop G, said on October 9 that his agency was treating the case as a criminal investigation due to the level of negligence possibly involved.
In August 2020 the NTSB announced it would hold a hearing at the end of September to consider the draft final report.
Conflict between NTSB and state police over access to vehicle
The NYSP investigation led to conflicts with the NTSB. Since the former investigation is a criminal case, it takes priority, and the limousine remains in NYSP custody until it is finished. The NTSB was not listed on the original search warrant, which was apparently interpreted as disallowing them access to the vehicle, despite the issuing judge's belief to the contrary. Almost two weeks after the crash, the federal investigators complained privately to the Associated Press that they had not been able to even look over the vehicle.
On October 22, the NYSP announced that Hussain's defense team and the prosecution would be allowed to look at the limousine, and that NTSB investigators had been able to look at the vehicle's exterior but not examine its internal mechanics. The next day, Senator Charles Schumer told the media that an NTSB investigator had been "granted limited access" to the limousine. The NYSP confirmed this and noted that it was not the first time the NTSB had been able to view the Excursion. However, full examination was not permitted until the criminal investigation had concluded, an issue the NYSP said the NTSB was fully aware of. The state police promised the NTSB full access to the limo. Schumer said that the NTSB would likely release a report on the crash in three months; and a board spokesman clarified that that report would likely be preliminary. The investigation, and the full final report, could possibly take a year or two.