Posted on 09/17/2008 9:41:56 AM PDT by ZGuy
Those who knew Robert M. Sanchez say the Metrolink engineer led a solitary life in recent years and was intensely private, sharing little about a past that included tragedy and run-ins with the law.
Sanchez died Friday at the helm of a Metrolink train after apparently failing to stop at a signal near Chatsworth and colliding with an oncoming Union Pacific train. The crash, the worst in modern California history, killed 24 others and injured 135.
Investigators on Tuesday said they had ruled out train and track failure in the accident, and are close to ruling out signal failure. They said they are now focusing on Sanchez.
Sanchez was involved in a fatal crash with a pedestrian earlier this month.
In the years before his death, Sanchez led a nomadic life, with addresses in Oregon, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, Nebraska and California.
In 2000, he and Daniel Charles Burton, a waiter, bought a home in Crestline.
Burton moved to California from West Haven, Conn., his family said, seeking better weather and the freedom to be gay.
On Feb. 14, 2003, Burton hanged himself in the garage of their home.
"Rob, Happy Valentine's Day," read a note Burton left behind
The coroner's report showed that Burton tested positive for HIV.
Even before the suicide, Sanchez was having problems.
In 2002, he was arrested on suspicion of shoplifting. Sanchez pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge, paid a fine and served 90 days in jail.
At the time he said a lot of things were going on that caused him to make stupid mistakes.
He also had a federal tax lien filed against him in 1991 for $6,054 and a Riverside County tax lien for $1,205 filed in 2006.
Sanchez took diabetes medication.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Actually, the biggest victim in this tragedy is the aggrieved PR lady, who quit. She was the front page story on Monday with a huge picture....a lot of negative comments from victims families and acquaintances about that.
Suicide; he was texting his last words...
Of course we’re just brainstorming here, but if he left Chatsworth and immediately fell unconscious he would have missed the final callout for sure. That would leave the Chatsworth departure callout as the other one. I can’t imagine that he could have engaged to leave Chatsworth without the callout due to a medical condition, but I’m just trying to play devil’s advocate here to see if options can be ruled in or out. In fact it was unclear from the news accounts if the final two callouts missed referred to stations or signals.
The railroads called it “featherbedding” when the unions insisted on having a “fireman” in the cab. Eventually the unions caved in favor of higher salaries, and the firemen slowly disappeared. A shame, really, for a vehicle as potentially destructive as a train to only have one operator.
Diabetes medication can be oral or indictable depending on the severity of the condition. If you pancreas is still functioning at some level, oral meds usually suffice. If it has shut down you will need to go on insulin (indictable usually although there is some progress in making it into a spray that you inhale).
Your pancreas secretes insulin, which helps you to metabolize sugar, if your natural insulin production goes down it results in an increasing blood sugar level, which, in the extreme, can cause you to blackout. Having said that the effect of either form of medication is to stabilize your blood sugar levels within a specific (healthy) range by either stimulating your pancreas to produce more insulin (oral meds) or by replacing your natural insulin completely (indictable insulin).
Your blood sugar varies from day to day depending on diet, exercise, stress levels, and most importantly insulin level, this requires a diabetic to test his/her blood with a monitor (invasive procedure, which requires you to draw blood), usually twice daily. This provides you with information used to adjust the next dose so as to be neither over or under medicated. The process is rather like a duck flying backward in that you don't know where you're going, only where you've been. The process is not perfect and can result in applying the wrong dosage, which can be dangerous.
This is the important part:
If you allow your blood sugar to get either too high (hyperglycemic) or too low (hypoglycemic) the resulting effect is almost the same, drowsy, groggy, can’t mentally focus, vision problems, and if it's bad enough unconsciousness followed by comma.
Yes, the train engineer could have blacked out either because he overdosed, or because he didn't take his meds at all!
Regards,
GtG
There is a difference between insulin and glucophage.Too much or too little insulin( injection ) can cause blackout problems
Glucophage( pills ) does not affect one in any where near the same way
Regards,
GtG
Half right, if you were to stop taking them, in time you would go hypoglycemic, no?
Regards,
GtG
I take diabetic medication every day, and it hasn't made me do stupid things. Obviously the guy's head was up his ass over personal issues. Unless he was doing drugs, drinking, or taking anti-depressants or sleeping pills, I doubt that on its own, the diabetic medication would have had any adverse effects on him.
Well I hear that alot of Metro rail and bus drivers in LA are drug fiends.
Hopefully they’ll release the pertinent autopsy and black box information as soon as they can and not make us wait for the final report.
Half right, if you were to stop taking them, in time you would go hypoglycemic, no?
Regards, GtG
Unless you ingest large quantities of rapid carbohydratesNo it takes months of not taking pills for any change.
Do you know if Metrolink has mandatory routine drug testing on their engineers?
Yes, Metrolink. He was an employee and receiving a pay check and benefits from Metro. Therefore, Metrolink is culpable.
The resignation of their PR person is further evidence that Metrolink has serious internal conflicts.
If you stop taking your meds your blood sugar goes up, that makes you hyperglycemic. Those taking meds orally are still producing insulin and the meds help the body handle blood sugar.
Mea Culpa, I got my hypo and hyper reversed, sometimes I post before proof reading!
Those taking meds orally are still producing insulin and the meds help the body handle blood sugar.
Yes they are producing insulin but not as much as needed to maintain the proper blood sugar levels. I they were able to maintain the proper balance through diet they would be "pre-diabetic" not "diabetic".
This I know because my wife is insulin dependent diabetic whereas I am pre-diabetic. I take Avanderal daily and my A1C level stays around 6.1-6.2. If I stop the meds it goes to 6.9 which is still borderline and not yet truly diabetic (A1C level of 7.0 and up by definition).
XeniaSt posted in #33 the following:
...it takes months of not taking pills for any change...Unless you ingest large quantities of rapid carbohydrates.
The first statement is somewhat misleading as an A1C blood test is a three month running average of glucose levels, so you will only see the results after testing. I suspect that changes start concurrent with dropping off the meds however. The second statement is a given, diet always plays a large part in controlling sugar levels.
Regards,
GtG
DEADMAN FOOT VALVE: A device, which will initiate a penalty brake application on a locomotive after a short time delay, if foot pedal is released on locomotive and brake cylinder pressure is not at least 25 psi.
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