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Victor Chu for New York Daily Ne

The manslaughter trial of Ophadell Williams, the bus driver in a horrific crash that left 15 people dead in March, got underway Thursday in the Bronx.

The bus driver blamed for a Bronx wreck that left 15 gamblers dead was asleep at the wheel because he had been tooling around town instead of resting before the deadly crash, prosecutors charged Thursday.

Cell phone and car rental records show that when Ophadell Williams “was supposed to be sleeping during daytime hours, he was in various parts of the city and Nassau (County),” Assistant District Attorney Gary Weil as the driver’s manslaughter trial got under way.

“The evidence will show that he fell asleep or was so fatigued he could no longer pay attention to what was happening,” Weil said. “He knew the risks of driving while fatigued and ignored those risks and, as a result, 15 people died.”

Williams’ lawyer insisted his client got plenty of sleep and that he will produce witnesses to say the accident last year was caused by a big rig that suddenly cut off the bus on Interstate 95.

“He had as much sleep as many other people routinely have,” defense attorney Patrick Bruno said outside court. “I don’t see the sleeping as an issue.”

Williams was at the wheel of a World Wide Travel bus and bound for Chinatown from a Connecticut casino when he lost control of the motorcoach early on March 12, 2011.

“They died instantly in a horrible crash caused by the reckless and criminally negligent behavior of that man,” Weil said, pointing at Williams.

“The evidence you will hear will prove that this was no mere tragic accident, but a criminal act,” he said.

“First you will heard about the defendant’s reckless driving. Second, you will hear about his habits and activities in the weeks prior to the crash.”

Williams was going 78 mph — 28 mph over the speed limit — before the crash and there is no evidence that a tractor trailer ran the bus off the road, Weil said.

Weil also warned the jury they would hear graphic testimony from the survivors, including a rider who “put his arms over his head to protect his head and both of his arms were ripped off.”

But Bruno countered the image of his client as a villain.

“I see no criminality here,” Bruno said, describing Williams as “a nice guy.”

“He doesn’t drink. He doesn’t smoke. He doesn’t do drugs,” Bruno said. “He just tries to bring home a check for his family.”

Williams, who has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, has been in jail since the wreck, unable to come up with the $250,000 bail.

In June, the National Transportation Safety Board said the accident was probably caused by driver fatigue.

In the wake of that crash, the state stepped up inspections of tour buses and pulled dozens of them off the road after finding problems with drivers’ licenses, logbooks and equipment.

But on July 4, another busload of gamblers heading home from a Connecticut casino ran out of luck when their budget tour bus crashed in New Rochelle. Two dozen riders were injured and the driver was blamed for driving too fast for the wet conditions.

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