AP sources: Bus driver in NYC crash stopped before

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By MICHAEL GORMLEY

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - The driver of a bus in a horrific weekend crash that killed 15 people in New York City should not have been able to get behind the wheel because of a driving suspension and several traffic violations, two state officials familiar with the accident probe told The Associated Press on Monday.

Ophadell Williams was ticketed in 1995 for speeding and twice for driving without a license, giving police the alias of Erik Williams, the officials said. Williams' driving privileges were suspended - meaning he couldn't legally drive in the state - after he failed to address the charges.

The revelations about Williams - a convicted felon with a 20-year-old manslaughter conviction _prompted Gov. Andrew Cuomo to launch a state investigation into how Williams was able to hold a valid commercial driver's license at the time of the crash early Saturday.

Calls to Williams' Brooklyn home were unanswered Monday. A spokesman for the bus company that employed him, World Wide Travel, declined to comment, on the instructions of federal investigators.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20110315/D9LVCG2G0.html

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New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly speaks with emergency personnel investigating the scene of a bus crash on Interstate-95 in the Bronx borough of New York Saturday, March 12, 2011. At least thirteen people died when the bus, returning to New York from a casino in Connecticut, flipped onto its side and was sliced in half by the support pole for a large sign. (AP Photo/David Karp)

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