SCHOHARIE – Chad Smith, the state transportation investigator who pursued limousine operator Nauman Hussain for more than a year before the 2018 limo crash in Schoharie, will be taking the stand once again on Tuesday.
Smith is one of the most important witnesses for Schoharie County District Attorney Susan Mallery’s case against Hussain, who is on trial here in county court on charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for the deaths of 20 people in the Oct. 6, 2018, stretch limousine crash at the popular Apple Barrel Country Store restaurant.
Smith, of Mechanicville, told jurors Monday that he first spotted the white stretch Ford Excursion involved in the crash on June 8, 2017 as he was driving through Saratoga Springs. He had been doing roadside commercial truck inspections on the Northway in Queensbury for his job with the Department of Transportation and was driving back to his home office.
The Times Union reported the chance encounter in May of 2019, a month after Hussain, 33, was indicted.
He said as he passed by the Mavis Discount Tire auto repair shop on Broadway, he noticed an unusual vehicle and pulled into the parking lot to take a closer look.
A timeline of events surrounding the Schoharie limo crash
“I saw a large-style white stretch limousine,” Smith said. “It was a style that normally requires New York state DOT authority and a bus inspection. It didn’t have any of the markings that I would expect.”
Smith’s testimony is key to the prosecution because Hussain is accused of ignoring state stretch limo regulations put in place around 2010 that classify large stretch limos as buses and require special inspections every six months by the DOT. Such limos also require a federal DOT number to be displayed on the side like commercial trucks.
“It didn’t have any of the markings I would…
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