The driver of a bus which crashed in New York City at the weekend – leaving 15 passengers dead – had previously served two years in jail for manslaughter. Ophadell Williams was initially charged for second-degree murder in the 1990 stabbing, but it was later downgraded to manslaughter, according to state records.
He spent another three years in jail from 1998 to 2008 for grand larceny after he took a $83,905 cheque from a Police Athletic League fund, according to Linda Foglia, correctional services spokeswoman.
State officials also revealed Mr Williams should never have been allowed to get behind the wheel because of a driving suspension and several traffic violations.
He was ticketed in 1995 for speeding and twice for driving without a licence, giving police the alias of Erik Williams. His driving privileges were suspended – meaning he was not legally allowed to drive in the state – after he failed to address the charges.
The revelations prompted New York state governor Andrew Cuomo to launch an investigation into how he was able to hold a valid commercial driver’s licence at the time of the crash.
Investigators are now piecing together Mr Williams’s trail by matching Social Security numbers of traffic stops under different names, according to officials. They were speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation.
Mr Williams also had an incomplete log book, a requirement for commercial drivers, they said.
Investigators zeroed in on the driver’s record after passengers and witnesses contradicted Mr Williams’s story that his tour bus was clipped by a tractor-trailer. He was driving 32 people, mostly from Chinatown, back to New York after a trip to a casino in Connecticut.
A 70-year-old passenger died yesterday morning at St. Barnabas’ Hospital in the Bronx, bringing the death toll to 15. The bus was sheared in half by a sign pole after overturning on the highway, killing and maiming passengers.
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