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Engineer in Hoboken, N.J., train crash has sleep apnea, his lawyer says

Gallagher was driving the train as it sped into the Hoboken Terminal; the crash killed one person and caused extensive damage.

By Ed Adamczyk
Emergency workers and police gather outside the Lackawanna Hoboken Terminal in Hoboken, N.J., on September 29 after a speeding commutrer train crashed into the terminal, killing one person. A lawyer for engineer Thomas Gallagher said Wednesday that Gallagher suffers from severe sleep apnea. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
Emergency workers and police gather outside the Lackawanna Hoboken Terminal in Hoboken, N.J., on September 29 after a speeding commutrer train crashed into the terminal, killing one person. A lawyer for engineer Thomas Gallagher said Wednesday that Gallagher suffers from severe sleep apnea. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

HOBOKEN, N.J., Nov. 17 (UPI) -- The engineer whose train crashed into the Hoboken, N.J., terminal on Sept. 29, killing one person, has been recently diagnosed with sleep apnea, his lawyer said.

Medical test results on Thomas Gallagher, 48, were sent to federal officials on Oct. 31 and indicate a severe sleep apnea disorder, lawyer Jack Arseneault said Wednesday, adding the test results might indicate how the crash occurred.

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Gallagher has said he does not remember the incident, in which his commuter train accelerated as it arrived at the terminal during the busy morning commute. The accident caused extensive damage to the Hoboken Terminal, injured over 100 people and killed a woman standing on a train platform.

The cause of the accident has not yet been determined by the National Transportation Safety Board, which offered no comment on the medical tests, but a U.S. government official told the news website nj.com that Gallagher was diagnosed with sleep apnea after the crash.

Sleep apnea is disorder characterized by pauses in breathing during sleep, disrupting sleep patterns and causing those affected to feel drowsy while awake or to fall asleep suddenly. NJTransit confirmed it has a sleep apnea screening program as part of its protocols, but offered no other information regarding the incident or Gallagher's test results.

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"I can tell you that examining the medical fitness of transportation workers involved in accidents is part of our investigative process. That includes examining if undiagnosed conditions exist that could have contributed or impaired the worker or otherwise contributed to the accident. It also includes examining if declared or diagnosed conditions were being adequately treated," the NTSB's Christopher O'Neil told nj.com in an email.

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