A second whistleblower who was a quality controller in aeronautics died unexpectedly this week, a few weeks after the suicide of a former Boeing employee who had denounced questionable practices by the company.
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Joshua Dean, who worked at Spirit AeroSystems, a Boeing supplier, died after contracting antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, his aunt Carol Parsons told the Seattle TimesFox News reported Thursday.
The 44-year-old man filed a complaint for retaliation after claiming that he had lost his job in 2023 because of the denunciations he had made.
He was among those being questioned in a lawsuit against Boeing, brought by shareholders who reported dangerous defects in components of the 737 MAX plane.
The whistleblower had “a one in two chance of living”, according to a message that his family published on Facebook, according to the American media.
“Josh’s passing is a loss to the aviation community and the traveling public. He showed extraordinary courage in standing up for what he believed to be true and right and raised questions of quality and safety,” his lawyers, Brian Knowles and Rob Turkewitz, told Fox News.
Joshua Dean was also represented by the same lawyers as John Barnett, another whistleblower who allegedly committed suicide outside his hotel after giving a statement in his lawsuit against Boeing last March.
