5 Charged With Involuntary Manslaughter in Flint Water Crisis

[Political Junky]

Great news -

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/14/us/flint-water-crisis-manslaughter.html

FLINT, Mich. — By the time Robert Skidmore, an 85-year-old former auto industry worker, died in late 2015, officials had seen signs for months that Flint was wrestling with outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease, prosecutors say. Yet despite a wave of such cases in 2014 and 2015, no public warning was issued until early 2016.

By then, it was too late for Mr. Skidmore and 11 others: a failing so egregious, prosecutors say, that it amounted to involuntary manslaughter.

Five officials in Michigan, including the head of the state’s health department, were charged on Wednesday. It is the closest investigators have come to directly blaming officials for the deaths and illnesses that occurred when a water contamination crisis enveloped this city.

The tainted water has been tied to lead poisoning in children and prompted officials to begin a costly, yearslong process of replacing pipes all over the city. Even now, officials recommend that only filtered tap water be consumed, and many residents say they can trust only bottled water, given false assurances they once received from state and local officials.
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[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

When they prove that they died from Legionnaires' disease and prove it came from the water system, then they might have a case. Until then, not so much!

 

[waltky]

Granny says dey oughta make `em drink the water...

Judge orders trial for Michigan state health director on charges related to Flint water
Aug 20, 2018 — A judge on Monday ordered Michigan’s state health director to stand trial on involuntary manslaughter charges in the deaths of two men linked to an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in the Flint area.

Nick Lyon is accused of failing to issue a timely alert to the public about the outbreak. Judge David Goggins said deaths likely could have been prevented if the outbreak had been publicly known. Some experts have blamed Legionnaires’ on the scandal over Flint’s water, which wasn’t properly treated when it was drawn from the Flint River in 2014 and 2015. Goggins found there’s probable cause for a trial. The legal standard isn’t as high as beyond a reasonable doubt. The state says at least 90 cases of Legionnaires’ occurred in Genesee County, including 12 deaths. Lyon denies wrongdoing. His lawyers say sending the case to trial will “dangerously chill” public employees.

The Legionnaires’ investigation is part of a larger probe into how Flint’s water system became poisoned when the city used Flint River water for 18 months. The water wasn’t treated to reduce corrosion. As a result, lead leached from old pipes. Lyon, director of the Health and Human Services Department, is the highest-ranking Michigan official charged in an investigation led by the attorney general’s office.

An additional 14 current or former state and local officials have been charged with crimes, either related to Legionnaires’ or lead in the water. Four agreed to misdemeanor plea deals; the other cases are moving slowly.

A judge on Monday ordered Michigan's state health director to stand trial on involuntary manslaughter charges in the deaths of two men linked to an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in the Flint area.​

Legionella bacteria can emerge through misting and cooling systems, triggering a severe form of pneumonia, especially in people with weakened immune systems. The state says there were 90 cases reported to Genesee County Health Department in 2014-15, including 12 deaths. More than half of the people had a common thread: They spent time at McLaren Hospital, which was on the Flint water system. The outbreak was announced by Gov Rick Snyder and Lyon in January 2016, although Lyon concedes that he knew that cases were being reported a year earlier. “He had the chance to save lives,” special prosecutor Todd Flood told the court at a July 25 hearing.

But Lyon’s attorneys have questioned the causes of death of two people cited by Flood. They also say there was much speculation about the cause and not enough solid information to share with the public. “It is not enough for the prosecutor to wave his hands in the air and cry bad things happened to the people of Flint so someone must be held responsible,” Lyon’s lawyers said in a court filing.

Judge orders trial for Michigan state health director on charges related to Flint water

 

[Claudette]

Any one from the EPA on that list??