Bus crash that killed 15 near Brooklyn New York

The driver of a tour bus sliced end-to-end by a pole on Interstate 95 in a horrific March crash that killed 15 people returning from a gambling trip has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter charges.

Ophadell Williams, 40, of Brooklyn was arraigned today in Bronx state Supreme Court.The World Wide Travel bus, with 31 passengers aboard, ran off Interstate 95 on the Bronx-Westchester border at daybreak on March 12 as it was returning to Manhattan’s Chinatown from an overnight trip to the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Conn. The killed 15 people, mostly Chinese immigrants, and injured dozens more.Williams was said to have been traveling about 78 mph at the time of the crash.Williams has maintained he was alert and awake, and that the crash was touched off when the bus was clipped by a tractor-trailer.Days later, Williams' driving privileges were suspended after state investigators determined he had made false statements when applying for his license.

Williams is no stranger to criminal proceedings or providing false information to authorities.

In 1990, he was convicted of manslaughter in connection to a stabbing and served two years in prison, officials at the State Department of Correctional Services told The Journal News in March.