Amtrak crash probe focuses on engineer, who says he can't remember what happened

FoxNews.com ^ | May 14,2015 | FoxNews.Com

[Biggirl]

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.

[indthkr]

"says he can't remember what happened"

He nodded off for ~30 seconds. In that time, the train would have gone nearly a mile.

[Biggirl]

The police do not even to be spoken to, this security video will make it an open and shut case:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PL4LOczlZo

[1Old Pro]

Frankly, I’ll bet his union had him a lawyer in minutes without him even requesting one.

[Alberta's Child]

What relevance does that video have to a criminal case? I don't think there's any question about the speed of the train at the time of impact. The most important question would be: WHY was it going that fast?

[Biggirl]

Well any video such as that could be used in any legal, just saying.

[Alberta's Child]

It is one thing to demand to have your lawyer present for questioning (surely a good idea); it is another thing to refuse to answer questions.

Any lawyer worth his salt will advise his client not to answer questions. This is a criminal case, and you never let your client incriminate himself by answering questions.

[Biggirl]

I would, but have been a bit under the weather to understand. :)

[Alberta's Child]

I may be wrong about this, but I believe union lawyers are typically used for disputes between an employee and the company. This is likely to be a criminal case, and I’m not sure how the union’s legal representation would work in that situation.

[1Old Pro]

Police union lawyers defend cops, I’ll bet there are many lawyers on retainer to defend union members in cases like this, we’ll see.

[hoosiermama]

UNions have liability clauses up to a point their lawyer will cover you. When you opt out of joining you also opt out of the liability insurance and attorney

[hal ogen]

Can you blame him? It is the “hillary” defense: I can’t recall. The stinkin’ criminal hag got off by using that.

[Alberta's Child]

I see. I wonder if there’s a difference between civil liability cases and criminal cases.

[Biggirl]

Yet any security video such as the sample that I have posted could be a “condemning” factor. Pictures or in this case, videos do not lie.

[ChicagahAl]

...why was he doing 106 on a section of track rated at 50 mph?

Why was he doing 106 on the straightaway prior to the curve, which has a posted speed limit of 80?

If also occurs to me that engaging the emergency brake on the curve, may have contributed to the accident. I doubt that his action was in accordance with emergency procedures - but we'll probably find that out later.

[hal ogen]

But in these modern times he can always claim some mental impairment and possibly get off.

[stremba]

Yeah, damn that Fifth Amendment!

[stremba]

Probably because the correct procedure, as in all cases, is to actually do an investigation, gather evidence, see if charges are warranted, then proceed with charges if they are. We are still in the early stages of that process.