MD State Police fire chopper fleet whistle blower. Claim insubordination and lack of proof from pilot.
Excerpts from Baltimore Sun article by Gadi Dechter:
Maryland State Police fired yesterday a medevac pilot who just days before a fatal September crash warned federal authorities that the state’s vaunted fleet was not safely operated, officials said.
Helicopter pilot Pete Peterson was terminated for refusing to cooperate with an internal safety investigation, police spokesman Greg Shipley said, and for “other issues” which he could not discuss because they are personnel matters.
“This was an issue of insubordination,” said Shipley, who said Peterson refused to provide police officials with the maintenance records he claimed could prove there were safety dangers across the entire 12-helicopter fleet. “We wanted to know what this information was … so that we could address it.”
Peterson, a nine-year-veteran of the helicopter unit, declined to comment yesterday except to acknowledge his firing and confirm that he did send an e-mail to the Inspector General of the U.S. Transportation Department in mid-September warning of “deeply troubling latent failures” in the police Aviation Command.
Peterson also warned that internal safety reports had been “sanitized to protect mismanagement,” according to a Washington Examiner article in September.
Police officials said yesterday that employees have an obligation to “immediately report any hazardous conditions or safety concerns to a supervisor.” After Peterson’s allegations became public, he was asked to discuss his concerns with police authorities but has refused, officials said.
