Four other friends inside the limo, as well as the limo driver, survived.
Full press conference today on limo fire
Authorities reviewed video and photos of the fire and interviewed survivors, including the limo driver, Orville Brown, who said he helped survivors escape through a partition between the vehicle’s front seats and the passenger area.
Brown, 46, of San Jose, said at first he misunderstood what one of the passengers in the back of the 1999 Lincoln Town Car was saying when she knocked on the partition window.
With the music turned up, Brown said he initially thought the woman was asking if she could smoke. Seconds later, he said, the women knocked again, this time screaming, “Smoke, smoke!” and “Pull over.”
Brown said he helped the four survivors escape through the partition. One of the women ran around to a rear passenger door, but by then the vehicle was engulfed in flames.
One of the survivors, a sobbing Nelia Arellano, told KGO-TV a few days after the fire that Brown “didn’t do anything” to help the women escape the car. In a May 7 interview, Arellano told NBC Bay Area that Brown was on the phone.
Brown’s brother, Lewis Brown, an attorney based in Vallejo, denied the accusations to NBC Bay Area.
Authorities said they reviewed Brown’s telephone records and that he was not on the phone during the accident.
The state Public Utilities Commission had authorized the vehicle to carry eight or fewer passengers, but it had nine on the night of the fire.
Aerial video shot after the incident showed about one-third of the back half of the limousine scorched by the fire. Its taillights and bumper were gone and it appeared to be resting on its rims, but the remainder of the vehicle didn’t appear to be damaged.