Squadron Commander Removed From Post Officer Wanted Crash Evidence Given To Him

The commander of a squadron of jets like the one that severed cables on a ski lift in Italy last week, killing 20 people, was relieved of command on Friday because he told his crew members to give him evidence in the investigation, the Marine Corps said Tuesday night.

The officer, Lt. Col. Stephen Watters, was not the commander of the squadron involved in the incident, near Cavalese, Italy, last week.

But the investigation has broadened to include Watters’ squadron because it rotates with three other squadrons between the Marine Air Station at Cherry Point, N.C., and a NATO base in Aviano, Italy. It was a jet on a training flight from Aviano that flew too low last Tuesday and severed a ski lift, causing a gondola to crash to the ground and killing all of the passengers.

Marine investigators have been questioning the crews that fly EA-6B Prowler jets about whether they had broken the altitude rules for training flights.

Defense Department officials have admitted that the military jet, which is used in low-altitude missions in Bosnia-Herzegovina, was flying far below the minimum authorized altitude for training missions when it hit the ski lift.

A spokesman for the Marine Corps, Lt. Col. Stuart Wagner, said he did not know all the details of what Watters had said to his squadron. But in a statement on Tuesday night, the Marine Corps said Watters had been relieved of command “because the commanding general lost confidence in his ability to lead the squadron.”

“The loss of confidence stems from statements made to his squadron to destroy potential evidence in an on-going investigation into the EA-6B incident,” the statement said.

A retired Prowler crew member who now works for a defense contractor said Tuesday that active crew members at the briefing called by Watters told him of what was discussed at the meeting.

The retiree, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the colonel had asked his crew members if they had any videotapes of low-altitude flying that might show they had violated the rules.

The colonel asked crew members who may have had such videotapes to turn them over to him, the retiree said. Prowler crews commonly take ordinary home-video cameras aloft with them.

Wagner, the Marine Corps spokesman in Washington, said Watters had been relieved of command to reflect “the Marine Corps’ strong belief in responsibility, accountability and the importance of integrity.”

“The commandant has been very vocal and very public about holding people accountable,” Wagner said. “That’s the way the Marine Corps works, and we’re going to be true to that.”

He said relieving Watters of command constituted a “quick and positive step to ensure we have a corps of integrity.”

But the retired aviator said the statements by Watters to his crews could also be interpreted as an offer by the commanding officer to stand with them if they were accused of wrongdoing.

Thus far, no charges have been brought against him, and it is not clear whether the crews he commanded actually had any evidence that would have incriminated them.

Watters, known as Muddy, entered the Marines in August 1979.