Why do whistleblowers always do this?(lemmy.world)

Boeing whistleblower. Worked there 30-years and was on travel giving depositions and showed up dead in the carpark. Initial report is a “self-inflicted” wound, but even if Boeing didn’t kill him, it doesn’t look good.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-68534703

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ViscloReader@lemmy.world

4 points

8 months ago

That’s really sad

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TheUnicornsForever@lemmy.world

61 points

8 months ago

The whistleblower behind the recent Boeing safety scandals, that has casually killed himself on a day he was supposed to give a deposition or something

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ISometimesAdmin@the.coolest.zone

22 points

8 months ago

He ALREADY testified: he was found dead AFTER.

Barnett’s body was found in a vehicle in a Holiday Inn parking lot in Charleston on Saturday, police said. One day earlier, he testified in a deposition about the string of problems he says he identified at Boeing’s plant where he once helped inspect the 787 Dreamliner aircraft before delivery to customers.

https://www.npr.org/2024/03/12/1238033573/boeing-whistleblower-john-barnett-dead

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I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world

73 points

8 months ago

Multi-day testimony, he only did one day. He was scheduled to testify again on Saturday. They went looking for him when he didn’t show up and that’s when they found the body.

So, to be more accurate, he was IN THE MIDDLE of testifying; he was found dead DURING the time he was supposed to be testifying.

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Zron@lemmy.world

10 points

8 months ago

A part of me says that it’s entirely reasonable that a guy who worked for Boeing and likely signed off on thousands of defective parts would feel a brutal surge of guilt after giving testimony about it. I can’t imagine the guilt if I thought I had potentially hundreds of people’s blood on my hands. We don’t know if he was or felt he was responsible for the deaths caused by MCAS or other tragedies. Maybe saying it out loud brought all of it back and he felt like he needed an out.

Another, louder part of me, says that Boeing either pressured him into committing suicide, or shot him themselves to stop him from revealing too much damaging information.

Another part of me remembers that Malaysia Flight 370 was a Boeing plane that disappeared by essentially cutting all communications and flying back towards the mainland. Knowing now what we do about how Boeing has been run, I think the most likely thing is that some serious technical issues happened to that plane, the pilots tried to return back but were unable to control the plane long enough, probably due to being unconscious or dead, and it eventually crashed into the ocean.

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Timecircleline@sh.itjust.works

11 points

8 months ago

Even if it wasn’t Boeing itself that had him killed, who’s to say it wasn’t one of their investors? I try not to fall into conspiracy theory rabbit-holes, but it’s very convenient.

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Starkstruck@lemmy.world

3 points

8 months ago

Same, like it just seems so clear he was murked. And even if he was feeling guilty, wouldn’t he at least want to right his wrongs by finishing his testimony first?

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