He must figure this is his best way out.
Amtrak crash probe focuses on engineer, who says he can't remember what happened
Now Playing Attorney: Engineer doesn't remember Amtrak crash
The Amtrak engineer involved in a crash Tuesday evening that killed at least seven near Philadelphia has no recollection of the crash and can offer investigators few details of the incident, his lawyer said.
Brandon Bostian, 32, of Queens, N.Y., has turned over to authorities blood samples and his cell phone, according to his lawyer, Robert Goggin. The attorney told ABC News Thursday Bostian suffered a concussion but is cooperating with the investigation and is willing to speak with the National Transportation Safety Board.
"I asked him if he had any medical issues. He said he had none. He’s on no medications; he has no health issues to speak of and just has no explanation," Goggin said.
"He’s on no medications; he has no health issues to speak of and just has no explanation"
- Robert Goggin, attorney for engineer Brandon Bostian
He remembers driving the train, Goggin said, but "has absolutely no recollection of the incident or anything unusual."
Goggin said Bostian recalls being tossed around and apparently being knocked out. He found a bag, grabbed his cell phone and called 911, he said. Bostian reportedly suffered a concussion and injuries to the legs and was treated at a hospital.
Early reports indicated that the engineer refused to give a statement to law enforcement. An NTSB official said the agency will give the man two days to recover from the shock of the accident that left seven dead and sent over 200 to area hospitals. There are still passengers unaccounted for.
Investigators have turned their attention to the train's speed to a sharp turn at the residential town of Port Richmond. The train is believed to have been traveling at speeds of 106 miles per hour in a section of the track where the speed limit is 50 mph.
NTSB board member Robert Sumwalt told reporters Wednesday that the engineer launched a "full emergency brake application" a few seconds before the train derailed 11 minutes after leaving the Philadelphia station, crumpling cars and throwing around many of the 243 aboard.
Sumwalt said federal accident investigators want to talk to Bostian but will give him a day or two to recover from the shock of the accident.
"This person has gone through a very traumatic event, and we want to give him an opportunity to convalesce for a day or so before we interview him," Sumwalt said. "But that is certainly a high priority for us, to interview the train crew."
Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams told WTXF Wednesday that it was too early to determine whether to pursue a criminal investigation, explaining that many details of Tuesday deadly crash have yet to come out.
"We will use every means, every resource to find out what happened," Williams said.
Also Wednesday, authorities recovered the black box from the train and are inspecting video footage recorded from the front of the train moments before the accident.
Crews at the scene are still focused on search and rescue since there are a number of passengers still unaccounted for, but the NTSB is simultaneously conducting an investigation and collecting perishable evidence at the site.
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said it was possible that some of the passengers listed on the train's manifest never boarded the train, while others may not have checked in with authorities.
"We will not cease our efforts until we go through every vehicle," the mayor said, adding that rescuers had expanded the search area and were using dogs to look for victims in case someone was thrown from the wreckage. Sumwalt said a multidisciplinary team is at the scene that will study the track, train signals, operation of the train and the condition of the train.
Despite pressure from Congress and safety regulators, Amtrak had not installed along that section of track Positive Train Control, a technology that uses GPS, wireless radio and computers to prevent trains from going over the speed limit. Most of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor is equipped with Positive Train Control.
"Based on what we know right now, we feel that had such a system been installed in this section of track, this accident would not have occurred," Sumwalt said.
Amtrak inspected the stretch of track on Tuesday, just hours before the accident, and found no defects, the Federal Railroad Administration said. Besides the data recorder, the train had a video camera in its front end that could yield clues to what happened, Sumwalt said.
It was the nation's deadliest train accident in nearly seven years. At least 10 people remained hospitalized in critical condition late Wednesday.
Among the dead were award-winning AP video software architect Jim Gaines, a father of two; Justin Zemser, a Naval Academy midshipman from New York City; Abid Gilani, a senior vice president in Wells Fargo's commercial real estate division in New York; and Rachel Jacobs, who was commuting home to New York from her new job as CEO of the Philadelphia educational software startup ApprenNet.
Late Wednesday, a fifth victim was identified as Derrick Griffith, 42, dean of students at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn. A statement from the college described Griffith as "a pillar in the community" who had just been granted a Doctorate of Philosophy by the City University of New York.
Amtrak suspended all service until further notice along the Philadelphia-to-New York stretch of the nation's busiest rail corridor as investigators examined the wreckage and the tracks and gathered evidence. The shutdown snarled commutes and forced thousands of people to find other ways to reach their destinations.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
|
