(The following story by Steve Hymon appeared on the Los Angeles Times website on December 3.)
LOS ANGELES — The engineer driving the Metrolink commuter train involved in the deadly Sept. 12 collision with a freight train was killed by “multiple blunt force injuries,” according to an autopsy released this afternoon by the Los Angeles County coroner.
Engineer Robert Sanchez was driving the train that slammed into a Union Pacific freight train in Chatsworth. Sanchez and 24 passengers aboard the Metrolink train were killed in the crash, and 135 passengers were injured.
Among his injuries were numerous broken ribs, a broken pelvis, a broken clavicle, a broken right tibia and fibula, and “extreme blood loss,” according to the autopsy.
Investigators in the Chatsworth crash have focused their probe, in part, on why the Metrolink engineer missed a crucial red signal to stop the train.
The National Transportation Safety Board has already said that Sanchez was apparently sending and receiving text messages in the seconds before the crash. The Times reported Wednesday that investigators are also looking at whether the red signal was not as clear as it should have been.
In her signed opinion on the Sanchez autopsy, Deputy Medical Examiner Lisa A. Scheinin wrote:
“The cause of death is multiple blunt force injuries. These primarily involve the torso and are rapidly fatal. Toxicology tests showed no evidence of drugs or medication. Microscopic examination showed no evidence of infectious disease. Some sections of the heart contained areas of fatty infiltration and/or fibrosis (scarring), which could possibly cause an arrhythmia. The mode of death is an accident.”
A second autopsy by a private firm was also performed on Sanchez at the request of Metrolink and the family. The results of that autopsy have not been released, and the doctor who performed it has declined to discuss the results with The Times, citing reasons of privacy.