Two years before bullets pierced the bulletproof vests of two police officers, the vests' manufacturer withheld test results that cast doubt on the vests' effectiveness because executives feared bad news might hurt plans for an initial public stock offering, the company's former research director said in a sworn statement.
The allegation, in a deposition for a lawsuit in a state court in Oklahoma, is the latest twist in a controversy over Second Chance Body Armor Inc.'s handling of the 2001 test results. The company in September 2003 announced it would upgrade and replace 130,000 potentially defective vests, about three months after two vests were pierced in shootings that killed one California policeman and wounded another in Pennsylvania.
The incidents prompted suits against Second Chance by the slain officer's widow, the wounded officer, various police departments and organizations and some state attorneys general. The furor also has attracted attention from the Justice Department, which launched an inquiry and has had lawyers sitting in on witness depositions in the suits, which were filed in several courts around the country.
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