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Accident Lawyers Take On Bus Case
April 21, 2011 Auto Accident Lawyer

The Nationwide Transportation Safety Board stated for the 1st time that the bus had been exceeding the speed restrict on Interstate 95 just 45 seconds before it veered off the highway, in accordance to a preliminary report by the board about the March twelve crash.

The State Police have also been studying the crash and interviewing witnesses to enable the Bronx district attorney determine regardless of whether to file criminal charges versus the driver of the bus, who was returning to New York from a trip to a casino in eastern Connecticut.

The driver, Ophadell Williams, 40, of Brooklyn, informed investigators that a tractor-trailer passing him had swerved, forcing him to veer off the street. A truck driver contacted the police later that day to say he had witnessed the crash. But the report said that investigators discovered no evidence of any make contact with amongst his truck and the bus and that on March 22 the truck driver was cleared of any responsibility.

The safety board’s report did not achieve a conclusion about the lead to of the crash, which it is nevertheless investigating. In the 90 seconds ahead of the crash, the bus traveled at unique speeds, the report explained, but was going 78 miles per hour within 45 seconds of the crash. The bus’s speed decreased just prior to the crash, the report claimed.

The posted speed limit on that stretch of I-95, just south of the Westchester County line, is fifty five m.p.h. The report indicated that the engine of the bus was limited to a top pace of 78 m.p.h.

The only public comments by Mr. Williams about the crash have been produced through his attorneys. State officials revoked his driving privileges after reports became public of Mr. Williams’s criminal record, which involves serving time in prison for convictions of manslaughter and larceny.

Howard Lee, a lawyer representing Mr. Williams, said Friday that he had not still read the safety board’s preliminary report and so had little to say about it. But as he has in the previous, Mr. Lee questioned no matter whether speeding induced the crash. He also expressed skepticism about the choice to distinct the truck driver, who he explained could have played a role in the crash even if the two automobiles did not collide.

Lawyers representing some surviving passengers and family members of victims of the crash have claimed that Mr. Williams fell asleep at the wheel before the crash, which occurred at 5:45 a.m. The bus, operated by World Vast Journey of Higher New York, a company based mostly in Brooklyn, was returning to Chinatown in Manhattan from an overnight trip to the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Conn.

Mr. Williams had driven the bus to the casino the prior evening. Although the passengers have been inside of the casino, he bought a meal, then returned to the bus, ate and slept for a few hrs, his attorneys have explained.

The report said that none of the 33 passengers, other than Mr. Williams, could have been putting on a seat belt simply because his was the only a single on the 12-yr-outdated bus. It also claimed that there was a video clip camera in the front of the bus facing forward but that “the program was not created to record video clip information and was not running at the time of the accident.”

The safety board claimed that the fateful run was 1 of 14 every day round-journeys between New York Metropolis and the casino. It mentioned Globe Wide Journey obtained a “satisfactory” rating in its latest assessment for compliance with federal bus-security regulations.

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Buffalo car accident attorney concerning any legal issues.

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