Contractor Died After Being Hit By an Aircraft’s Rotating Propeller

The family of Stephanie Cosme, a civilian contractor who was killed after being hit by a propeller, recently filed a lawsuit against Sumaria Systems. They claim that the company’s employee exhibited racial and gender discrimination while training Cosme.

Stephanie Cosme was working for Sumaria Systems, which was contracted by the US Air Force to support its unmanned aerial systems program, at the time of her death. She had been receiving training from testing director Derek Kirkendall.

On September 7, 2023, Cosme and Kirkendall were conducting relatively simple ground testing on a USAF MQ-9A Reaper drone at California’s Gray Butte Airfield. The investigation claimed that Cosme failed to follow instructions and inadvertently walked into the aircraft’s rotating propeller.

The night of the incident, Cosme’s siblings received a brief explanation from a USAF official. However, they refused to believe that not following protocol was the only reason for their sister’s death.

The initial USAF Aircraft Accident Investigation Board report gave the family some clarity, confirming that Kirkendall was rushing through Cosme’s training session and did not properly teach her how to collect drone data. Still, her siblings claimed that there are still details left unsaid.

The family filed a lawsuit against Sumaria Systems, alleging that Cosme’s death was caused in part by gender and racial discrimination from Kirkendall. They noted that Kirkendall had demonstrated hostility towards other Hispanic coworkers at Sumaria Systems in the past, potentially even causing two male Hispanic employees to quit.

The suit also referenced a hostile work environment complaint that had been filed against Kirkendall by Cosme’s predecessor, a Latina, that ultimately left the role. Cosme was of both Mexican and Puerto Rican descent, which could have caused her to experience similar discrimination.

'Everybody knows he's hazing her, and this is so endemic to the culture that no one tells him to stop," stated Debra Katz, one of the family’s lawyers. 'We felt this suit was really important to name it for what it is. This is gender discrimination that led to somebody's death."

FMI: www.sumaria.com