Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 21, 1995 TAG: 9501230053
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID REED ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Medium
James O'Neal Jr., 36, is described by his superiors as a bit like the character Benny on the television series ``LA Law.'' He has worked for MW Manufacturers for 16 years, making the rounds at work stations to pick up and deliver packages.
He's a popular, steady worker who, more than anything, wants to be treated like everyone else, MW President John Harman said Friday. James O'Neal Sr. said his son's brain was damaged after a bout with pneumonia when he was a baby.
``He's a top-notch guy, a wonderful person,'' Harman said Friday during an interview in his office at the window manufacturing plant. ``A lot of the people feel strongly for James.''
During a break period Jan. 13, three workers thought it would be funny to get O'Neal to wear an electronic dog-training collar on his leg and persuaded him to put it on. They told him it was part of a lie-detector test.
The collar then was activated to shock O'Neal when he didn't give correct answers, Harman said.
``The three individuals saw it as some type of practical joke,'' Harman said. ``Obviously, it was a cruel and unacceptable thing.''
Harman suspended the three assembly workers without pay for three days beginning Tuesday and placed them on probation for a year. He also said the company's investigation of the incident would continue.
But O'Neal's father and co-workers thought that wasn't enough. They wanted the employees fired.
The elder O'Neal walked into the Rocky Mount police station with his son Thursday and filed a complaint. Rocky Mount Police Chief Butch Jenkins said his department is investigating.
Harman said a petition signed by more than 200 of MW's 1,200 workers called for the termination of two of the three employees involved and of a plant supervisor. Another petition called for the dismissal of the employee who instigated the action.
Harman declined to say whether he planned to dismiss the three employees, but he said they ``saw the way things were going and basically resigned.''
O'Neal was not physically injured by the mild electrical shocks and has missed no time on the job, Harman said.
``There was no animosity between the victim and the individuals,'' he said. O'Neal ``still likes these three guys.''
The worst part of the ordeal, Harman said, may have been when O'Neal ``heard his name on television for the first time and then heard the broadcaster refer to him as mentally handicapped. I'll not call him handicapped. We're all unique in our own way. He's contributed a lot to this company over the years.''
by CNB