Larry Rulison is reporting for the Times Union the National Transportation Safety Board September 29, voted to fix responsibility on the owners of Prestige Limousine and the departments of transportation and motor vehicle for the deadly limousine crash in Schoharie that killed 20 people in October 2018. The board's members voted after hours of discussion about the crash's cause and the state's poor oversight of the limousine industry and the super stretch limousine with a history of documented flaws. The agency found that inadequate brake maintenance was to blame. The NTSB rebuked Prestige Limousine for allowing the vehicle to decay into a rolling death trap with useless brakes and faulted the DOT and DMV for failing to get it off the road. NTSB members that took part in the meeting said the DMV did not scrutinize the vehicle's records when it was registered, and DOT did not do enough to go after the company when the vehicle failed roadside inspections. The board also took time during the meeting to accuse the State Police and Schoharie County District Attorney Susan Mallery of obstructing the agency's efforts to inspect the crash, a surprising reprimand of law enforcement and the state agencies that are supposed to keep the state's roads safe. NTSB board chair Robert Sumwalt faulted Mallery for impeding the agency's investigation, blocking access to information about the crash during the state police investigation into a potential criminal prosecution. The chair said that under federal law, state police investigators are expected to cooperate with the NTSB investigation. "At this point, I'm going to say there was not a good deal of cooperation from the state," Sumwalt said. Read more in the Times Union.