diff --git a/ext_tests/src/com/android/launcher3/testing/DebugTestInformationHandler.java b/ext_tests/src/com/android/launcher3/testing/DebugTestInformationHandler.java
index e649ce1de4..aa3710b6d9 100644
--- a/ext_tests/src/com/android/launcher3/testing/DebugTestInformationHandler.java
+++ b/ext_tests/src/com/android/launcher3/testing/DebugTestInformationHandler.java
@@ -164,6 +164,12 @@ public class DebugTestInformationHandler extends TestInformationHandler {
             }
 
             case TestProtocol.REQUEST_GET_TEST_EVENTS: {
+                if (sEvents == null) {
+                    // sEvents can be null if Launcher died and restarted after
+                    // REQUEST_START_EVENT_LOGGING.
+                    return response;
+                }
+
                 synchronized (sEvents) {
                     response.putStringArrayList(
                             TestProtocol.TEST_INFO_RESPONSE_FIELD, new ArrayList<>(sEvents));
diff --git a/tests/tapl/com/android/launcher3/tapl/LogEventChecker.java b/tests/tapl/com/android/launcher3/tapl/LogEventChecker.java
index 4440b82976..2edfc53f75 100644
--- a/tests/tapl/com/android/launcher3/tapl/LogEventChecker.java
+++ b/tests/tapl/com/android/launcher3/tapl/LogEventChecker.java
@@ -57,6 +57,8 @@ public class LogEventChecker {
         while (true) {
             rawEvents = mLauncher.getTestInfo(TestProtocol.REQUEST_GET_TEST_EVENTS)
                     .getStringArrayList(TestProtocol.TEST_INFO_RESPONSE_FIELD);
+            if (rawEvents == null) return null;
+
             final int expectedCount = mExpectedEvents.entrySet()
                     .stream().mapToInt(e -> e.getValue().size()).sum();
             if (rawEvents.size() >= expectedCount
@@ -83,6 +85,7 @@ public class LogEventChecker {
 
     String verify(long waitForExpectedCountMs, boolean successfulGesture) {
         final ListMap<String> actualEvents = finishSync(waitForExpectedCountMs);
+        if (actualEvents == null) return "null event sequences because launcher likely died";
 
         final StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
         boolean hasMismatches = false;