New York State suspended the driving privileges of the driver of the casino bus that crashed in the Bronx last weekend, killing 15 passengers, after investigators learned that he had made “false statements” on his driver’s license applications, a state official said Thursday.
The information that the driver, Ophadell Williams, provided to the Department of Motor
The governor has asked the state’s inspector general to investigate how Mr. Williams got and kept a commercial driver’s license after compiling a criminal record that included two stints in prison. 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.
Mr. Williams, 40, a Brooklyn resident, has not been charged in the crash, which occurred as he was ferrying 32 passengers back to New York City from an overnight jaunt to the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut. Investigators for the State Police and the National Transportation Safety Board have interviewed him in seeking to explain the crash. He has declined to talk to reporters, and could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
Those investigators on Thursday began interviewing firefighters and ambulance crews that were among the first to respond to the accident, which occurred at 5:30 a.m. Saturday on Interstate 95, just south of the Westchester County line. Also on Thursday, the State Police stopped 36 buses at checkpoints around the state. Ten of the drivers had violations so serious that they were made to stop driving immediately; backup drivers were called.
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