Limo Dad: Our families are crying out for justice

SARATOGA SPRINGS – In order for justice to happen the right way, and in order for his son not to have died in vain, Kevin Cushing believes limousine company operator Nauman Hussain must go to trial and must be held accountable for the death of 20 individuals.

In his mind, community service just doesn’t cut it.

“When a plea deal is basically no jail time for pleading guilty to criminally negligent homicide and his sentence was basically stocking shelves (at the Capital Region Food Pantry) for 500-plus hours, that was hardly fair,” Cushing asserted.

Cushing says he intends to be inside the courtroom for every day of the upcoming trial, mindful that it will not be easy.

“Many of us haven’t read autopsy reports,” he pointed out. “Many of us have not gotten into the dirty story that happened that day, and it’s going to get brought up at the criminal trial. It’s going to be incredibly difficult, but I do think generally speaking parents want to participate in it just for their family member’s sake.”

Cushing said he thinks about his son every day, many times a day, describing his life over the past four and a half years as like being on an emotional rollercoaster ride.

There is nothing special that Cushing will do to prepare for what he’ll hear in the courtroom.

“Nothing different than what I do every day,” he said. “We literally talk about Patrick every day, and I know that I talk to other family members that they’ve lost. How do you prepare for this? How do you prepare for the phone call from the state police or the knock on the door? You can’t.”

Hussain’s trial is scheduled to begin in Schoharie County Court on May 1.