Robert Kalfus
Ophadell Williams, right, is seen with his lawyer Patrick Bruno.
A Chinatown bus driver was cleared of all counts of manslaughter for his role in a horrific crash that killed 15 passengers in The Bronx last year.
This morning’s surprising verdict found Ophadell Williams guilty of only one minor count of aggravated unlicensed operation of a vehicle, after he’d been facing up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Williams had claimed that he lost control of the bus, which was headed into the city from the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut on March 12, 2011, after a tractor-trailer cut him off.
The top of the bus was sheared open after it struck a pole on the side of the roadway — killing 15 and injuring 18 others.
Prosecutors insisted Williams was so recklessly tired and sleep deprived that he might as well have been drunk.
Williams — an ex-con with a checkered driving record — tested clean for drugs and alcohol after the crash of his World Wide Travel bus.
Probers said the bus had been traveling at 78 mph in a 50 mph zone just moments before the crash.
Bus driver in deadly Bronx crash found not guilty of manslaughter, negligent homicide
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Bus driver in deadly Bronx crash found not guilty of manslaughter, negligent homicide
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Bus driver in deadly Bronx crash found not guilty of manslaughter, negligent homicide
