AA Employee Kills Teenager in Drunk Driving Spree - was clocked in at work at the time
Chas
By: Tom Farmer
Monday, June 17, 2002
Nine months after Sept. 11, American Airlines is finally cracking down on a
Logan Airport overtime scam involving duplicate IDs but only after one of
its employees killed a Malden teenager in an alleged drunken-driving crash
when he was supposed to be on the clock.
According to at least six present and former American Airlines workers at
Logan and documents obtained by the Boston Herald - as well as law
enforcement sources familiar with the vehicular homicide case - officials
at the airline's headquarters in Dallas knew as far back as January 1998
that a group of Boston Ramp Service workers were using duplicate company
badges to punch
each other in early or log each other out hours after a worker left. The six
workers and other knowledgeable sources also confirmed American Airlines
knew about excessive drinking on the job by Logan Ramp Service night-shift
workers, who routinely helped themselves to unlocked liquor and beer on
aircraft.
``Hopefully, American Airlines will do the right thing and get their act
together. After 9/11, you would have thought they would have taken actions
to correct this,'' said Kathie Holland, whose 19-year-old daughter,
Kimberly, died in the April 27 car crash. ``They've known about this for
three years. How many more people are going to die? They've had thousands of
people die at the World Trade Center in New York and now Kimberly on the
highway.''
Even after dramatic increases in airline security following Sept. 11, when
American Airlines planes were hijacked out of Boston and Washington, D.C.,
the airline did not take steps to halt the fraudulent use of company ID
badges until worker Mark D. Singleton was involved in the 2 a.m. accident on
Interstate 93 in Andover that killed Holland and seriously injured her best
friend, Stephanie Graffam, 19, sources said. American Airlines acknowledged
receiving a list of 11 questions about the Logan allegations that were faxed
by the Herald June 11 to the company's
headquarters, but the airline did not respond.
Singleton, 35, of Tewksbury, who was charged with drunken driving, vehicular
homicide and leaving the scene of an accident, was scheduled to work until
5:30 a.m. April 27 but told investigating Trooper Eric Bernstein that he
left work 2 hours before the 2 a.m. crash and had gone to the Big Dog sports
bar on Route 1 in Lynnfield where he consumed ``two whiskey and waters.''
Sources said investigators have not uncovered evidence Singleton drank at
work. Two exits past where he should have left I-93 North to go home,
Singleton's 1997 Ford Expedition slammed into the rear of Holland's 2002
Volkswagen Jetta, which was stopped in the breakdown lane with its hazard
lights flashing. Holland, who was getting back into her car, was struck and
carried 100 feet by the Expedition.
``Singleton then exited the vehicle and fled on foot to the Andover Marriott
where he later dialed 911,'' according to a search warrant affidavit for the
Expedition by Trooper Kevin P. Bibeau. Singleton told troopers he fled the
accident, despite having a cell phone in his vehicle and after being told by
a New Hampshire couple who stopped to help that ``someone was hurt.''
Singleton said he ran through woods and hopped a fence to get to the hotel
because he ``panicked.'' When asked why he was two exits past his home exit
and why he struck the car in the breakdown lane, Singleton told Bernstein,
``I guess I may have fell asleep.'' Singleton said when he got to the
Marriott, he first called his wife, Christine, to tell her what happened,
then called Andover police. Investigators are probing whether Singleton
asked his wife to call one of his co-workers with instructions not to punch
Singleton out at 5:30 a.m., sources said.
Singleton's attorney, John J. McGlone, said last week following a pre-trial
hearing that his client works alone in the American Airlines Cargo Building
on Harborside Drive and went home sick. He said Singleton, who is receiving
outpatient treatment at McLean Hospital for a ``near nervous breakdown after
the accident,'' has been suspended by the airline. McGlone did not return
calls seeking more information on the exact circumstances of Singleton's
suspension and whether his client notified a supervisor he was leaving
early.
Sources at American Airlines said the company had investigated previous
complaints of overtime abuses and even tried to terminate violators at
Logan, but the powerful Transport Workers Union of America Local 501 got
their jobs back through arbitration. Sources close to American Airlines
managers at Logan said the union had the power to delay flights through work
slowdowns and management at company headquarters overlooked the overtime and
liquor abuses provided flights arrived and departed on time. Ramp Service
workers do a variety of jobs, including baggage handling, driving service
vehicles, and cleaning aircraft. ``The union is tough there and the union
controls the overtime,'' said one management source familiar with the
situation. Union employees told the Herald they could easily delay flights
by slowing the multitude of services provided by ramp workers.
``The only reason why American would have this bountiful overtime situation
was because it was created by employees in power in particular stations,''
said one worker, who like others who spoke to the Herald, expressed fear for
their lives if their identities were revealed. Officials from the College
Park, N.Y.-based, union did not return calls seeking comment. According to
a Jan. 28, 1998, memo by Ed Freni, a former American Airlines general
manager in Boston, officials at the Dallas headquarters had been previously
notified about Boston workers' complaints that some of their colleagues were
blatantly claiming hundreds of overtime hours they did not work.
In the memo, obtained by the Herald, and addressed to ``All Boston Ramp
Personnel,'' Freni promised an investigation after an employee letter
written by ``The Fed Up Fifteen'' detailing the payroll and employee
identification abuses was ``purposely distributed or mailed to just about
every station manager in the American Airlines system. ``As you may know,
this subject has been addressed in the past,'' Freni wrote. ``We will ask
Headquarters to conduct another audit and review to determine the facts.''
Freni now works at Massport, which directed a request for comment to
American Airlines.
The employee letter, written in question-and-answer form, details the
complicated overtime system and how it was being abused. ``Our staff
discovered the practice of swiping other peoples' badges in and out of the
time clocks is a common practice in Boston. If anyone is going to be late,
has something to do, or simply doesn't want to be there, they can ask a
friend to cover for them and badge them out. Some people are known to carry
around badges for three or four different people for just such an
occasion,'' the letter states.
One source familiar with management response said security cameras put in
place to monitor Ramp Service workers were ``pulled out of the ceiling. They
broke them.'' Boston workers said since the Singleton accident,
investigators from airline headquarters have visited Logan and surveillance
cameras have been reinstalled. ``They're monitoring who badges in and out
and at what time,'' said a worker. ``This all came about after the Holland
incident.''
Perhaps more troubling to the traveling public is the alleged chronic
boozing of Ramp Service workers, which American Airlines has also been
unable to curb. Sources said numerous empty nip and other liquor containers
have been frequently removed from a drop ceiling in the Ramp Service ready
room, a locker area for employees. Management has posted several memos
reminding workers they are not allowed to drink on the job, including one
written by ramp manager Tom Ritter several weeks before the Andover crash,
sources said. ``I've seen people that were intoxicated marshaling aircraft
into the gate,'' said one worker. ``That requires some judgment, especially
at night, because you don't want wings hitting other aircraft or
equipment.'' Another worker described unsecured liquor on planes as ``a free
bar. That's what it's all about. The drinking is unbelievable.''
Kathie Holland, her husband Ed, and daughter Tiffany, said they want
Singleton to ``step forward and do the right thing and admit where he was
that night and what he was doing and why he didn't stop. ``We want him to
admit what was going on at American Airlines
because it scares me that security there is so lax,'' Kathie Holland added.
``I don't want other kids to die before they take action.''
© Copyright 2002 by the Boston Herald
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S. A.
service or other aspects but that they would let something like this happen
and continue their bullshit coverup after 9/11. It's pathetic how lax
security is at boston and it is even more pathetic for AA to cover up for
one of their slobs.
"Chas" <Ch...@nochange.com> wrote in message
news:afshna$fo1$1...@nntp9.atl.mindspring.net...
Steph Saul
what airline do most people believe is the better one?,.....
delta, usair, united,...etc?
just curious
thx
wc
>>what airline do most people believe is the better one?,.....
delta, usair, united,...etc? <<
I don't know what most people believe is the best. Midwest Express and
Alaska/Horizon have very good reputations.