Flint water: ex-Michigan governor faces charges for crisis that killed 12 people

Flint water: ex-Michigan governor faces charges for crisis that killed 12 people

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The Flint Water Prosecution Team is scheduled to announce its findings at a news conference on Thursday morning, after former Michigan governor Rick Snyder and former Flint Public Works director Howard Croft were charged. On Wednesday.

Each faces two charges of intentional neglect of duty as part of an investigation into the crisis, according to court documents. The charges are misdemeanors, punishable by up to one year in prison or a fine of up to $ 1,000, the state penal code shows.

CNN contacted a lawyer for Snyder and a lawyer for Croft to comment on the allegations.

Flint has been exposed to extremely high levels of lead since 2014, when city and state officials moved the city’s water supply from the Detroit Water System to the contaminated Flint River in an effort to cut costs.

The switch was supposed to be temporary while a new supply line to Lake Huron was completed. When the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality stopped treating corrosive water, it corroded the city’s iron and lead pipes and spread through drinking water.

The contaminated water led to two outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease, a severe type of pneumonia caused by bacteria.

More than a dozen lawsuits and a $ 600 million settlement

Snyder, who served from 2010 to 2018, apologized in 2016 for the role of the state in the crisis.
Court documents for Snyder, a Republican, show the date of the offense as April 25, 2014, the same day that Flint changed his water source.

Brian Lennon, Snyder’s lawyer, said on Wednesday that his client was being made a scapegoat by a special political-oriented lawyer. Lennon called reports that his client would be accused of “without merit” and part of a “political escape”.

Quick facts about the Flint water crisis

A Croft lawyer told The Detroit News that his client was informed on Monday that he would be charged.

The Michigan Attorney General’s Office did not comment on the charges Wednesday night.

Flint residents complained about poor water quality when the Environmental Protection Agency tested the water entering homes in 2015, finding dangerous levels of lead, which can cause serious health problems.

More than a dozen lawsuits, including several class actions, have been filed against the state, the city of Flint and some state and municipal officials involved in the decision to change the drinking water source and those responsible for monitoring water quality .

Last year, the state reached a $ 600 million settlement with the victims and a court-monitored compensation fund was created.

The Legionnaires’ outbreak led to criminal charges against state officials, including Nick Lyon, then director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, in 2017.

Prosecutors dropped all criminal charges in 2019 and said the investigation would start again from scratch, citing concerns about how the special attorney conducted his investigation.

Taylor Romine and Joe Sutton of CNN contributed to this report.

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