NY State has suspended driving privileges for the driver who, while driving 32 people from Mohegan Sun back to Chinatown, crashed into a highway sign pole, killing 15 passengers. A DMV official said that Ophadell Williams "allegedly lied about his use of aliases when he applied for a commercial license."
Williams, 40, had been driving for World Wide Tours for six months. The NY Times reports, "A state official, who insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the news media, said Mr. Williams had apparently valid normal and commercial licenses under the name Ophadell Williams, both of which were suspended on Thursday. But records show that more than once, Mr. Williams had been pulled over by the police and failed to produce a license. In those instances, he had given his name as Erik Williams, which state officials suspect may have been a dodge intended to preserve his license to drive a bus." His past offenses include getting his license suspended after "he ignored tickets for speeding and driving without a license in 1995," getting arrested for driving with a suspended license in 2003, and a manslaughter conviction for a 1990 killing.
After the 5:30 a.m. crash, Williams told investigators that a tractor trailer clipped him and he swerved out of the way while on southbound I-95, causing him to overturn the bus and skid hundreds of feet into the pole. The pole sheared the top of the bus off, creating a horrific scene of mangled bodies and body parts. However, investigators suspect that Williams was actually dozing off—passengers said the bus drifted into the rumble strips repeatedly. The accident, as well as another fatal bus accident on the NJ Turnpike, have led legislators to call for federally mandated driver training.
