Says He Was Let Go After Reporting Maintenance And Other Discrepancies

It's a story that almost reads like an episode of "The Wire", an HBO series that focused in part on the Baltimore police department ... but this one is true. A pilot who says he was recruited from Arizona to Baltimore to fly helicopters for the police department there claims to have been dismissed after writing a report critical of the way the helicopter unit was run. The report was supposed to go to a top police commander, but instead found its way to pilot Samuel K. Miller's sergeant.

Miller says he had always been given above average or excellent fitness reports, and had even won a Medal of Valor in 2004. But when, two years later, he wrote a letter complaining about lax maintenance, absent supervisors, and certification of inexperience pilots along with other issues, he says he was reassigned to a foot patrol at Baltimore's Inner Harbor at reduced pay. Miller described the ground job as "more dangerous" than flying, and says he was forced to resign.

The Baltimore Sun reports that the letter also charged the aircraft was used for "dog and pony" shows outside the department's jurisdiction, including a visit to the school where the daughter of the helo unit's sergeant is enrolled. The paper reports that the letter, which was intended for top police brass, was intercepted by that sergeant, and Miller contends that was the reason for his reassignment.

Miller is seeking $5 million in damages and reinstatement to the police force. The unit is the same one that was involved last year in an incident in which a state legislator requested the helicopter to stage a mock "raid" on a boat in Baltimore Harbor for an elaborate marriage proposal.

FMI: www.baltimorepolice.org