Four months since the death of a young Ford worker
Still no serious investigation into death of Jacoby Hennings
By
Jerry White
22 February 2018
Tuesday marked four months since the death of Jacoby Marquis Hennings, a 21-year-old temporary part-time worker who police say took his own life at Ford’s Woodhaven Stamping Plant, just outside Detroit, on the morning of October 20, 2017.
There are growing calls from family, friends and autoworkers throughout the Detroit area for a serious investigation of the still unknown circumstances surrounding the tragedy. Jacoby was a well-loved and popular young man, who had, as his parents described, an infectious optimism. Why would such a young worker kill himself?
The Woodhaven Police Department closed its investigation less than 24 hours after the shooting, declaring it a suicide. However, the official report from the Woodhaven Police Department, obtained by the World Socialist Web Site, leaves many critical questions unanswered.
One of the most important is: What happened in the hour preceding Jacoby Hennings’ death, when he was in the office of the United Auto Workers plant chairman with several other UAW Local 387 officials? According to statements given to the police, Hennings had reached out to the union officials to get advice about some as yet unknown problem, but no explanation has been provided about what this problem was or how the UAW responded.
Contacted last week by the World Socialist Web Site, the lead detective in the case, Woodhaven Police Lt. Gary McSweeney, said, “I have no idea what the union dispute was about. What happened in the union office was not something we were concerned with.”
However, what occurred at the union meeting has an immense bearing on what occurred next….