Hoboken train crash caused by driver's undiagnosed sleep apnea
By HME News Staff
Updated Thu November 17, 2016
HOBOKEN, N.J. - The engineer of the NJ Transit train that killed one woman and injured more than 100 others when it slammed into Hoboken Station has severe sleep apnea, according to his lawyer. A spokesperson for the New Jersey Transit said he could not confirm whether or not Thomas Gallagher had sleep apnea, but that the agency had a sleep apnea screening program, according to news reports. Gallagher's lawyer, Jack Arseneault, said, New Jersey Transit gave Gallagher a physical exam in July and declared him fit for duty, but that he was an “extremely heavy man” with a large neck circumference. “I believe common sense indicates that a person like that could be subject to suffering from adult sleep apnea,” Arseneault told the New York Times. The Federal Railroad Administration said it would soon issue a safety advisory to push railroads to tackle worker fatigue and to install cameras in locomotives.
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