Nicholas c. Lee. Timothy d. Mitchell. Danny p. Oliver. Roberto c. Sanchez. Tom a. Smith jr. Colorado david m. Baldwin. Florida robert g. German. Michael lee horn. Charles r. Condeck jr. Mark h. Lawson. [crying] jonathan s. Pine. Chelsea renee richards. Christopher l. Smith. Georgia n. L. Hawk. Kevin d. Jordan. Michael a. Noris. Stephen l. Thomas. [sirens] [background noise] illinois james p. Morsby. Indiana jacob d. Calvin. Perry w. Wren. Nicholas e. Schultz. Jeffrey b. Westerfield. Iowa howard j. Snyder. Kansas jason e. Harwood. Kentucky bob w. Branham. Louisiana alan m. Berez jr. James e. Foster jr. Carlos papillon jr. Maryland jamal l. Clagget. Massachusetts greg t. Maloney. Dennis o. Simmons. Michigan chad a. Charles. Grant william whitaker. Minnesota scott t. Patrick. Mississippi john thomas kolum. John r. Street. Missouri Matthew Scott chisholm. Eddie j. Johnson sr. Montana joseph j. Dunne i. Nebraska amanda baker. Mark a. Hekert. Nevada alan r. Beck. Igor soldo. New hampshire higher Stephen Joseph arkel. New jersey were not sorenaldo arocha, jr. Christopher m. Goodel. Stephen j. Petrozello. Melvin vincent santiago. New mexico anthony p. Haas. New york frank g. Bordenero. Thomas k. Choy. Dennis e. Guerera. Wyn jyn lu. Douglas h. Mayvell. Darrell r. Pearson. Rafael l. Ramos. Christopher g. Skinner. David w. Smith jr. Michael c. Williams. North carolina jeffrey w. Green. Stanley l. Klingenschmidt. Alexander e. Thalman. Ohio michael a. Paris sr. Justin r. Weinbrenner. Oklahoma bryan d. Beck. Kelly a. Chase. Terry b. Fischer. Mitchell d. Weeks. Kristen d. Willheit. Pennsylvania richard a. Champion. Brian k. Dixon ii. David kedra. Cheryl a. Pierce. South carolina joseph j. Madaskovic. Holmes n. Smith jr. Tennessee david c. Johnson. Darryl j. Perrett. Michael a. Petrina. Texas paul a. Buckles. Charles d. Dinwiddy. Lee dixon. Jessica l. Hollis. Cleveland d. Johnson jr. Mark u. Kelley. Alejandro martinez, sr. Michael j. Naylor. Michael a. Pimmintel. Jessie valdez, iii. Utah corey blake ride. Virginia brian m. Berger. Purcy lee house, iii. Brian w. Jones. Washington derek a. Hansen. Wisconsin michael j. Seversen. Federal oswaldo o. Albaraticasana. Michael c. Baskett. Jair j. Cabrera. Jason m. Crisp. Brian j. Feldt. Alexander i. Giannini. Clinton holtz. Brandon k. Kountz. Mark a. Mayo. Frank e. Mcknight. Ernest j. Montoya, sr. Tyler r. Robledo geniel amarofantauzzi juaquin correaortega. Marielis moralessantiago. Francisco mujica de leon. Carlos riveravega. Mario torresmartin. Acknowledgment of all deceased officers. Mrs. Amy scully, wife of alvin scully, Florence Township PoliceDepartment New jersey. Acknowledgment of all disabled officers. Deputy sheriff Robin Hawkins leo county sheriffs office, new mexico. Acknowledgment of all international officers. New South Wales Police force australia. Acknowledgment of Law Enforcement officers in deleterious service, United States navy. Military service. United states navy. Acknowledgment of all officers tc stats a result of terrorist action. Sergeant craig pollin, Pennsylvania State police. Acknowledgment of all law officers still serving in Law Enforcement. The topperforming team of the 2015 honor guard competition. United states Border Patrol honor guard. [applause] please stand National ChaplainPhillip Wiggins delivers the closing benediction. Please join me in prayer. Hear our prayer, god, at 10 to our prayer. From the end of the year if i will cry to you. When my heart is overwhelmed lead me to what is higher than i am. You have been a shelter for me a strong power from enemy. I will abide in your tabernacle forever. I will trust in the shelter of your wings. Father, lifted the family members and asked if they find rest in you alone. The salvation comes from you. He alone is iraq and our salvation and fortress. We will never be shaken when we place our trust in you. In your name we pray, amen. David gray to sing god bless america. God bless america, this land i want to see those blue ribbons up there, people. Let us remember our fallen. God bless america, this land that i love. Stand beside her and guide her through the night with the light from above. From the mountains, through the prairies, through the ocean god bless america, my home sweet home. God bless america, we will stand behind her if you will guide her, through the night with the light from above. From the mountain to the prairie, to the ocean white with song. God bless america, my home sweet home. My home sweet home. Thank you. [applause] colors, detail. Colors, detail, present. Colors, and detail, order. Colors, and detail, order. Order. At ease. On behalf of the United StatesFraternal Police artillery, our 322,000 members nationwide, we thank you. We honor the families that are here today with a promise that we will never let america forget your loss. Thank you. God bless you. And that concludes the National Peace officers memorial service. Thank you. Next, a News Conference on the amtrak derailment. Then in other trams to hear president obama speaking at the peace officer memorial another chance to hear president obama speaking at the peace officer memorial. On the next washington journal, neema and Stephen Bradberry will discuss the effectiveness of the patriot act. And then amy harder discusses the decision to allow drilling off of the arctic coast. You can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. Washington journal, live on cspan. Here are some of the featured programs for this weekend on cspan networks. Saturday morning starting at 10 00 eastern we are at the internet and television expo. Speakers include Brian Roberts kara and fcc chairman wheeler. President obama is at georgetown university, discussing ideas about alleviating poverty in the United States. On cspan two own book tv, we are live at city hall in maryland for the book festival with prizewinning author david and former obama adviser david axelrod. Sunday evening at 9 00, the president of the American Constitution Society on the impact of labor laws on women and their families. And on cspan3, saturday afternoon at 2 00, remembering the liberation of concentration camps within interview with gerda klein on liberation and the death march she barely survived. On sunday, the relationships that Winston Churchill developed with americans during his political career. Get the complete schedule at cspan. Org. Investigators with the National Transportation safety board interviewed the engineer who was operating the amtrak train. The briefing is about 30 minutes. Hello, and good afternoon. I am a board member with the ntsb and i realize we are later than we said we would be. The reason for that is around 4 30 we started getting news about interviews that we thought were important for you to know about. We delayed it so we could report that information to you. Weve interviewed three crew members today and i want to point out, im going to recapture some of the things that they have said, but i want to point out that these crew members have been traumatized through this accident that they were in. And theyve not fully recovered from their injuries. We did interview the engineer today. Its been widely reported hes 32 years old. He had his f. R. A. , federal railroad administration, required physical just last month. Our investigators found the engineer to be extremely cooperative. He was accompanied by his lawyer which is not at all unusual. And the engineer told us to contact him if we needed anything else. So again we found him to be extremely cooperative. He recalls ringing the train bell as he went through the north philadelphia station thats not a normal station stop for him, but hes required by regulation to sound his bell. May have said horn. Hes required to sound his bell as he goes through past the station stop. And he did that. He recalled doing that. But he has no recollection of anything past that. He felt fully qualified and comfortable with his equipment and he reported no problems with his train handling. And when asked, when asked, he demonstrated a very good knowledge, very good working knowledge of the territory. Speed limitations, things like that. He began his Railroad Career while he was in college as a brakeman. He started with amtrak in 2006 as a conductor. And in 2010 he became a locomotive engineer. Since 2012 hes worked out of new york city and hes been on this particular job for several weeks. He works five days a week, its an out and back trip for him. New york, washington and back to new york. Five days a week. He said that he did not feel fatigued nor did he report any illness. As we reported the other day the train has three conductors. The conductor is not able to be interviewed as he is still in the hospital. However we did interview the two assistant conductors. Assistant conductor number one is 39 years old. She was hired by amtrak in 2011 and she was in the fourth car, which is the cafe car. She stated that before departing washington, the entire crew conducted a safety briefing where they went over all of the speed restrictions along their intended route. She reported that it was a normal run through philadelphia, everything was normal up through philadelphia. And she said she could hear the transmission of the locomotive engineer, as conductors carry radios and theyre frequently talking to and listening to the locomotive engineer. So she could hear the transmissions from the locomotive engineer. She reported that approximately three to four minutes after departing philadelphia she said she heard the engineer talking to a septa engineer. She recalled that the other engineer had reported to the train dispatcher that he had either been hit by a rock or shot at. And that the septa engineer said he had a broken wind shield and he placed his train into emergency stop. She also believed she heard the engineer Say Something about she also believed that she heard her engineer Say Something about his train being struck by something. This is her recollection and certainly were going to be conducting further investigation of this comment. Our investigation has not independently confirmed this information, but we have seen damage to the lefthand lower portion of the amtrak wind shield, that we have asked the f. B. I. To come in and look at for us. We oftentimes rely on the f. B. I. For their Technical Expertise in such areas and they will be there tonight looking at this particular damage to the amtrak locomotive. Of course when the engine went through the impact, the wind shield was shattered but theres particular damage there that we want them to look at for us. Weve secured the track image recorder from the septa train to see what we can learn from that. Moving forward, right after she recalled hearing this conversation between the engineer and her engineer and septa engineer, she said that she felt a rumbling and her train leaned over and her car went over on its side. She said they were not able to selfevacuate and they waited for the Emergency Responders to get them out. She said she had about 15 passengers in her car. We asked what her relationship working relationship was with the with her locomotive engineer. She said she had worked with him a good bit and said he was great to work with. She said he was always offering to help her with her job. Now lets move to the assistant conductor number two. Hes 35 years old, he was hired by amtrak in may of last year, just a few days before the accident, he had celebrated his oneyear anniversary with amtrak. He was in the seventh Passenger Car, that of course is the last Passenger Car, and he reported having about 40 people in his car. Up to the accident he reported no problems other than some radio problems, radio problems with his portable radio. He said that sporadically he could hear, but not sure that some of his transmissions were going out. At the point that were describing, at the location of the accident, he said he felt shaking then two major impacts. He said that interior seats disconnected and he attempted to contact the amtrak dispatch center, but does not recall receiving a response. He assisted with the evacuation of engine passengers until he was instructed by Emergency Responders to go seek medical attention on his own. He said he had not worked much with the amtrak engineer for the accident trip, but he did say he was happy with the engineer and described the engineer as being very professional. So what weve just described is the information that allowed us to delay the press conference so that we could report that information to you. Weve got some other investigative activities that we will fill you in on whats , been going on. Weve mentioned through the week a 3d laser scanner. Weve done a 3d laser scanning of the locomotive interior and exterior. Weve scanned a Passenger Car so we can compare the that to the damaged cars. And weve also documented interior safety features in all cars. Weve continued the testing of the signals and the signals circuitry. Basically as the tracks are being rebuilt, our signals go along to check the continuity of the circuitry. Over the weekend we plan to reassemble the train set as much as we can, to put it back together, connect the brake lines and conduct a brake test and that will take several days. Over the course of the last few days, some of you have asked what would we do if we could not talk to the engineer . And how would we resolve it . One of the things weve called for in the wake of a failed train crash in 2008, where 25 people were killed, including the engineer, the ntsb issued recommendations for forward facing image records and inward facing image records, so something that would get a video image, video and audio image of whats going on inside the locomotive cab, as well as the outward facing cameras. Of course this train did have an outward facing camera. We also feel its important to have the inward facing cameras. That issue that recommendation was issued in 2010 when we completed our investigation of that accident in california. And the f. R. A. Has said that they do intend to act upon that recommendation. Theres a lot to be done. I think over the last few days weve gotten a lot done. But this will be our final press briefing on scene. Future information on this accident will be coming from our press office in washington, d. C. In just a moment ill ask peter to explain that process. But basically i think you can follow us on our web page, www. Ntsb. Gov. And also follow us at twitter. I think you know our twitter handle is ntsb. I want to emphasize that even though this is the final press briefing, certainly there is a lot of work that needs to be done and will be done over the next several days while our Investigative Team is here in philadelphia. Theres a lot that needs to be done and will be done. But anyway, thats the end of my prepared remarks. If you would please raise your hand, ill call on you and identify your outlet. Questioner you said the route is from new york to washington and then back to new york . Was he coming back . That was his second journey of the day . Robert he does. That was his the answer is, its one round trip. So he starts in the early afternoon, new york, washington, back to new york. So its one round trip. Questioner how much time is between that . Robert how much time is between that, we will have his schedule. I dont have it immediately in front of me. We are here to get information that will go away with the passage of time. His schedule we can get next week. But we want to do things like train interviews and things like that, crew interviews. Yes, sir. Questioner what else can explain the acceleration of the train . Robert the train does not have i flew airplanes for a long time. We had airplanes that had automatic throttles, trains do not have automatic throttles. Its a manual input. Were going to be through the event recorder, through the black box, if will you, we do one of the parameters recorded is throttle movement. Well be looking at that to see if that might correspond with the speed increase. Were also looking for any kind of mechanical anomaly that could cause the train to excel or a without input. Questioner [inaudible] you have been able to get any of his toxicology reports back, blood work things like that . , are there any other video sources of the train that may show you what he was doing before the crash . Robert have we been able to get the tox reports and is there any other video that we may be able to learn from . Let me address the video issue first. Were always surprised and happy that there are video sources that come from unintended sources like has been reported on the media. There was a Security Camera that reported some sparking or really an explosion as it was described on tv that probably came as a result of lines collapsing after the collision , after the accident. So people have cell phone cameras and things like that. So were always looking for additional sources of video information, if anybody has video information that we dont know about. Wed love to hear about it from our witness line. That witness line is witness ntsb. Gov. Wed love to hear from that. Also the first part of the question was tox results. Let me say first of all, i hear people talking about blood work. We do not, the ntsb, does not request blood work. We dont do that. But by federal law, whenever theres a transportation accident involving commercial entities, by federal law safety sensitive transportation workers are required to perform drug and alcohol testing. That is done by the carrier. In this case, by amtrak. So amtrak has conducted that in accordance with the regulations. At least thats the information we have at this time. That information is set. We take a split sample, amtrak sends that to their independent lab, we send it to our independent lab in Oklahoma City. And one