Macomb County

Human Rights Activist Speaks at Anton/Frankel Center

Featured in CBS series Whistleblower, speaker shares personal insight with OU students at Anton/Frankel Center

More than 70 people attended the screening of Whistleblower featuring Dr. Aaron Westrick at the OU Anton/Frankel Center. Attendees asked Dr. Westrick about his lawsuit and the courage it took for him to come forward during a Q&A session.

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icon of a calendarDecember 14, 2018

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Human Rights Activist Speaks at Anton/Frankel Center
More than 70 people attended the screening of Whistleblower, featuring Dr. Aaron Westrick, at the OU Anton/Frankel Center. Attendees asked Dr. Westrick about his lawsuit and the courage it took for him to come forward.

Dr. Aaron Westrick – former director of research and marketing at Second Chance Body Armor (SCBA), once the largest manufacturer of bulletproof vests in the United States – spoke to students in Oakland University’s Policy & Society Class on Thursday, Nov. 29 at the OU Anton/Frankel Center in Mount Clemens. While working at SCBA, Westrick discovered the company’s vests were unsafe.

meehan and westrick

Dr. Albert J. Meehan, left, OU professor of sociology and criminal justice, and Dr. Aaron Westrick, associate professor of criminal justice at Lake Superior State University.

There was a screening of the CBS television series Whistleblower featuring Westrick. Whistleblower documents heroic people who risk their careers and lives to expose illegal, dangerous and unethical behaviors of large corporations. Following the screening, Westrick fielded questions from OU students.

When Westrick learned SCBA’s vests weren’t safe, he performed tests proving Zylon – the vest material produced by Japanese fiber company Toyobo – was ineffective. Westrick wrote a memo to the president of the company urging a recall. His request was ignored. In 2003, police officer Tony Zeppetella died after his bullet proof vest – manufactured by SCBA – failed. Following Zeppetella’s death and injury of another officer, Westrick battled SCBA. Westrick wore a wire to gather information against the company and prove that Richard Davis, the president of SCBA at that time, knew the vests were defective. Once he realized there was a cover up between SCBA and Toboyo, Westrick leaked his memo to government agencies and testified in Zeppetella’s wife’s lawsuit against SCBA. SCBA fired Westrick.

“The company knew I wanted to come forward but kept me employed because it was the safest option,” Westrick said. “Once I blew the whistle and was fired, I told Davis, ‘Now is your chance to tell the whole truth.’”

He added, “I would do the whole thing over again. There’s no doubt in my mind that what I did was worth it."

Westrick’s disclosures resulted in the defective vests being forced off the market saving the lives of countless police officers, military and first responders.

Earlier this year, he received the Frank Wills and Martha Mitchell Pillar Award at the Whistleblower Summit for Civil and Human Rights.

He is currently an associate professor of criminal justice at Lake Superior State University and an active deputy sheriff for Charlevoix County.

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