http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/367594...

Loose wheel prompts lie-detector tests for firefighters
By Elizabethe Holland
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
10/16/2008

NORMANDY — Firefighters with the Northeast Ambulance & Fire District have been asked by their employer, under threat of termination, to take lie-detector tests to determine if any of them loosened lug nuts on a fellow firefighter's truck last month.

Firefighter Capt. Joseph McNeal was driving from the Metro East to the firehouse in Normandy on Sept. 28 when a wheel came off his pickup. McNeal, 30, told the Post-Dispatch he thinks someone loosened his lug nuts Sept. 26 or 27 while his Ford was parked at the firehouse. He says he thinks he was targeted because he is African-American. The department has had a history of racial dissension.

Officials with the St. Louis County and Normandy police, the Missouri Highway Patrol and the FBI said Wednesday that they hadn't received any reports of the incident. And Normandy Police Chief Douglas Lebert criticized the district's board of directors for threatening to submit employees to polygraph exams instead of involving police.

"We're dealing with a felony crime here," Lebert said. "Anything (board members) have done up to this point and anything they do after this point only interferes with any chance of us coming in and criminally finding who's responsible for this and prosecuting that person."


McNeal spoke early Sept. 28 with an Illinois State Police trooper who responded to the area where the wheel came off, but said he didn't report to any other police his suspicion that the truck had been sabotaged. Rather, he said, he told a deputy chief at the fire district.

Within days, firefighters were asked to sign documents telling of "an internal affairs investigation of alleged employee misconduct in the loosening of lug nuts" on McNeal's truck. The document says that employees may be required to cooperate with the investigation and the polygraph exam and that refusal to do so "may be grounds for disciplinary action ... including termination."

District board President Joe Washington, board Secretary-Treasurer Robert Edwards and Chief Peter O'Neal did not return calls seeking comment. Asked in an email Wednesday about the incident and the polygraph exams, the board's attorney, Elbert Walton Jr., responded, "No comments."

Board member Bob Lee, who is at odds with the board majority and Walton, said he learned of the incident and the plan to test firefighters only last week — from a district resident. Lee said Wednesday that there had been no discussion in board meetings of the incident or of having employees tested.

Polygraph tests for 30 employees — about the number of firefighters with the Northeast department — could cost $6,000, said John Grogan, executive director of the Polygraph Examiners of America.

McNeal said he parked his 2004 Ford pickup at the firehouse early Sept. 26. When his shift ended the next morning, he drove to his home in St. Louis. A short time later, his wife, with the couple's baby along, drove the truck to a gas station and a restaurant, McNeal said. The truck wasn't driven again until the next morning, when McNeal drove it to Illinois to help a friend, he said. On the way back from the Metro East, he heard a rattling noise and then "the wheel just came off," he said.

An Illinois State Police incident report says the lugs were bent when the wheel assembly came off. "No lug nuts remained on the rotor lugs," he report continues. "This appeared to be the reason the wheel assembly came off the rotor."

McNeal said he was grateful that the wheel didn't come off when his wife was driving and that the wheel didn't cause a wreck.

"This could have killed somebody," said McNeal, who added that he now checks his truck closely every time he leaves the firehouse.

Northeast Deputy Chief Airest Wilson said district officials suspected an employee was involved because of "a history" of problems between black and white employees.

All three board members, the board attorney, the fire chief and most of the district officers are African-American. Wilson said the department was about half black, half white.

Wilson said McNeal's incident wasn't the first such occurrence involving a black district firefighter. He referred to an incident involving former employee Kevin Henderson, whose tire came off his car several years ago.

Reached last week, Henderson, now with the Spanish Lake Fire Protection District, said he never believed anyone loosened his lug nuts. The car was about 15 years old and he'd recently purchased it, he said.

Henderson, who was fired by the Northeast board in July, said that Washington — the board president, but at the time the district's assistant chief — had urged him to make a complaint but that he would not.

Dennis Murray, who heads the union that represents many of the district's firefighters, criticized the board and its attorney for not calling in law enforcement to investigate what could be a hate crime. Still, he said, he is recommending that firefighters take the polygraph exam.

"Take the lie-detector test and prove your innocence and move on," Murray said.

eholland@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8259

Dear Normandy Fire District Board Members:

It is a mistake to order firefighters to submit to lie detector testing. Polygraphy has no scientific basis, and is inherently biased against the truthful. In addition, deceptive persons can pass the test using simple countermeasures that polygraph operators have no demonstrated ability to detect.

A polygraph dragnet has virtually no chance of determining 1) whether a crime was committed and 2) if so, who committed it. But it could very easily wrongly implicate one or more innocent employees.

For a thorough debunking of the lie detector, see AntiPolygraph.org's book, The Lie Behind the Lie Detector, which may be downloaded in PDF format here:

http://antipolygraph.org/lie-behind-the-lie-detector.pdf

Sincerely,

George W. Maschke, Ph.D.
AntiPolygraph.org
PGP Public Key: 0x74DE6533
AOL Messenger: GeorgeMaschke
Gizmo (Secured with Zfone): georgemaschke
Skype (Internet Phone/Text Chat): georgemaschke
Voice Mail: 1-775-806-6189

Who do you think is more likely to take your advice and try countermeaures, an innocent person or  someone who attempted to kill a man because of the color of his skin?

......as evidenced by the amount of effort he expends trying to turn honest and innocent people into liars and cheaters....

Dr. Maschke  

Who do you think is more likely to take your advice and try countermeaures, an innocent person or  someone who attempted to kill a man because of the color of his skin?

Sancho Panza

I think polygraphy does a pretty good job of that.Accusing honest and innocent people of lying, that is.

TC  

I was honest and truthful, took the scam and FAILED as many others have

Mr. Scalabrini, Considering your status as a co-author of a book (TLBTLD) that repeatedly tells the reader it is OK to lie and deliberately conceal information as well as offering suggestions regarding ways and means to attempt conceal criminal activity;