Emergency personnel investigate the scene of a bus crash on...

Emergency personnel investigate the scene of a bus crash on Interstate-95 in the Bronx. (March 12, 2011) Credit: AP

The driver of the bus that swerved, tipped over and skidded across the New York Thruway on Saturday has served time in prison for manslaughter and grand larceny, police said Monday.

National Transportation Safety Board officials said they hope to interview the driver Tuesday in their efforts to determine whether his claim is true -- that a tractor trailer hit the bus, causing the accident that Monday claimed its 15th victim.

State police said passengers told them the driver, Ophadell Williams, 40, of Brooklyn, drove erratically before the crash.

Williams, who was treated for injuries at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, was imprisoned for two years after a manslaughter conviction for his role in a 1990 stabbing death, according to police officials. He later served another term in prison from 1998 to 2002 for a grand larceny conviction. Williams had also been arrested for driving with a suspended license and other charges dating back to 1987, records show.

NTSB Vice Chairman Christopher Hart said investigators were awaiting the results of drug and alcohol tests for Williams, who was released from the hospital Sunday.

Investigators also hoped to interview the driver of the truck, owned by The Webster Companies of Burlington, Mass., later this week and to wrap up the on-scene investigation in another five to seven days, Hart said in a briefing at New Rochelle Village Hall. "We also are urging any witness who saw this from the outside, who has not yet spoken to New York State Police, to please do so, because we need all the help we can get from witnesses to help us reconstruct what happened," Hart said.

The 16-member team would continue to examine the site to see whether the configuration of the highway contributed to the accident, he said. Debris still littered the roadside Monday as investigators took photos and studied the area where the bus flipped onto its side and skidded to a stop, its top nearly sheared off by a sign post.

The 15th victim, who was not identified, died Monday morning at St. Barnabas. Thirteen people died immediately in the crash, and another passenger died hours later at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx.

Hart said the NTSB had the engine control modules from both the bus and truck and were examining them to try to determine the speed of the vehicles and other information.

With Anthony M. Destefano and Emily C. Dooley

 

 

The victims

 

IDENTIFIED. New York State Police Monday identified 13 of the 15 people killed in Saturday's casino tour bus crash on Interstate 95 in the Bronx. Age and place of residence were not available for all victims:

Miguel Aquino, male, 55

Kam Ming Eng, male, 81, New York City

Yuk Chun Eng, female, age unknown, New York City

Jose Garcia, male, age unknown, New York City

Bing Fong Lee, female, age unknown, Brooklyn

Don Lee, male, 76, New York City

Biqin Mei, female, age unknown

Ninh Tran, female, age unknown

Jian Hua Wang, male, 40

May Lin Wong, female, age unknown, New York City

Ock Thling Wong, male, 83, New York City

Yang T. Xian, male, age unknown, New York City

Michael Yeh, male, 65, Brooklyn

HOSPITALIZED. Six of the injured remain hospitalized at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, four of them on respirators. Another passenger is in critical condition at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx.

RELEASED. Eight passengers were treated and released from Jacobi. The driver and a bus passenger were treated at St. Barnabas and released.

DEAD. A second passenger being treated at St. Barnabas died Monday morning.

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