The mother of John Barnett, a former Boeing quality manager-turned-whistleblower who died earlier this month, told CBS News she holds the aircraft manufacturing giant responsible for the grinding treatment that ultimately left her son despondent.
"If this hadn't gone on so long, I'd still have my son, and my sons would have their brother and we wouldn't be sitting here. So in that respect, I do," Vicky Stokes said when asked if she places some of the blame for her son's death on Boeing.
Barnett had been in Charleston, South Carolina giving testimony in his whistleblower case against the embattled aerospace company, when on March 9 he was found dead in his car in the parking lot of his hotel. He was 62.
Police are still investigating his death, which the coroner has called an apparent suicide, just before he was set to resume providing deposition testimony against Boeing, which he had accused of repeatedly ignoring safety issues.
Stokes and her son Rodney Barnett told CBS News in their first television interview that they want to see John Barnett's legacy of fighting for the safety of the flying public preserved.
He considered himself someone who was just trying to do the right thing. What troubled him the most was that nobody seemed to be listening to what was happening there," shared his brother, Rodney Barnett, with CBS News.
John Barnett dedicated 32 years of his life to Boeing, with his final seven years spent as a quality manager. He took on the role of a whistleblower at the South Carolina factory responsible for producing the 787 Dreamliner. In 2017, he made the decision to leave the company, citing work-related stress.
During his tenure, he started to have serious concerns about the company's practices. Before his resignation, he lodged a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Despite his efforts, the agency did not find sufficient cause to believe that Boeing had violated any whistleblower laws. Subsequently, in 2021, he initiated a lawsuit outlining multiple safety issues. These included instances of titanium shavings entering electrical systems, faulty oxygen tanks, and pressure from managers to take shortcuts.
Rodney Barnett recounted how his brother shared that instead of addressing his worries, the company retaliated against him for speaking out. He mentioned that John was subjected to public humiliation during meetings and was consistently put on the spot. Rodney emphasized that his brother was not one to shy away from standing up for what he believed in.
John Barnett alleged in the 2022 Netflix documentary "Downfall: The Case Against Boeing" that his superiors at Boeing took retaliatory actions against him for raising concerns.
"Boeing quit listening to their employees. So every time I'd raise my hand and say, 'hey we got a problem here', they would attack the messenger and... and ignore the message," he said in the film.
Boeing has denied both the allegations about safety issues and the claims that the company retaliated against Barnett. The company said in a statement to CBS News: "We are saddened by Mr. Barnett's passing, and our thoughts are with his family and friends."
His death occurred in the middle of litigation and came just as Boeing was grappling with weeks of negative headlines about its safety culture — specifically, repeated problems with its 737 Max planes, including a midflight blowout of a door plug on an Alaska Airlines plane.
John Barnett worked on a different plane, but raised similar concerns, according to his attorneys Brian Knowles and Rob Turkewitz.
"He wasn't trying to hurt Boeing," said Turkewitz, who told CBS News he believes whistleblower laws that apply to aerospace workers need to be strengthened. "He was trying to save Boeing. He saw this coming and he said, 'You know, this is all going to come down on Boeing.'"
Barnett's family told CBS News they are trying to carry on John Barnett's whistleblower case, which is expected to head to trial in September. Knowles said continuing the case is about "justice and accountability".
Following the continuous challenges in reputation and safety, the CEO of Boeing, Dave Calhoun, has declared his intention to resign by the conclusion of 2024.
