-- Robert Vilensky was quoted in the New York Post today, March 14, 2017, in regards to an article on sleep apnea as a defense. The article discusses sleep apnea being used as a viable defense in court. Chris Karadimas, 57, of Brooklyn was brought up on serious federal sex-abuse charges after groping a woman on a plane, and was acquitted after claiming sleep apnea made him mistake her breasts for pillows. A man in Washington State also successfully used the sleep apnea defense after he fell asleep behind the wheel and killed two teenage boys on a sidewalk.
It is estimated that up to 12 million Americans have sleep apnea, which is a common sleep disorder in which you have one or more pauses in breathing or shallow breaths while you sleep. Breathing pauses can last from a few seconds to minutes. They may occur 30 times or more an hour.
After the 2013 Metro-North derailment in the Bronx killed four people and the 2016 NJ transit crash that killed one person in Hoboken, both train engineers used the sleep apnea defense and were cleared of charges.
From the New York Post: Robert Vilensky, the lawyer for LIRR crash victim Wanda Rich, who suffered nerve damage and fractured ribs, says, “It just seems to be a very convenient defense’’. He said of the engineer’s alleged sleep apnea, “I’m not buying it.’’
Vilensky’s client is one of the 100 people injured in the LIRR crash in January 2017 at Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn. The case is being investigated, and the train engineer “may have” suffered from sleep apnea as well. , Vilensky is suing the MTA and engineer Michael Bakalo, 50, of Melville, LI, for a total of $15 million.
Contact Info:
Name: Robert Vilensky, Co-founder and Partner
Email: Send Email
Organization: Ronemus & Vilensky LLP
Address: 112 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Phone: 212-779-7070
Website: http://www.ronvil.com/
Release ID: 178962
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