Amtrak driver Brandon Bostian, the engineer of the speeding train that crashed in Philadelphia, has said he can’t remember the deadly crash.
Brandon Bostian, 32, experienced concussion, 14 stitches in his head and more in his leg from the wreck, his lawyer Robert Goggin told ABC News.
At least eight people have died and dozens more were hurt in the crash.
An eighth body was recovered in the Amtrak rubble on May 14, fire officials said.
The train was going 106mph before derailing on a curve where the speed limit is 50 mph.
Federal investigators don’t know why the train was travelling that fast.
Robert Goggin, who is speaking for Brandon Bostian because he hasn’t given a statement to law enforcement yet, said the driver remembers coming into the curve, trying to reduce the speed of the train and then getting knocked out. He doesn’t remember using the emergency brake.
Brandon Bostian is cooperating with police and consented to a blood test along with giving up his mobile phone. He claims not to have been drinking or doing drugs.
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said the engineer was “clearly reckless and irresponsible”.
“Part of the focus has to be, what was the engineer doing? Why are you travelling at that rate of speed?” Michael Nutter said.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), however, was not as quick to blame Brandon Bostian. Accident investigators want to give Brandon Bostian some time to recover from shock before they start talking to him about the accident.
Officials said the accident could have been prevented if Positive Train Control, a safety mechanism, was implemented in the area.
Brandon Bostian worked for Amtrak as a conductor for nine years. He became an engineer in 2010. He graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2006.
