“The people of Flint, and the entire state of MI, deserve to know the full extent of Gov. Snyder’s involvement and knowledge of this crisis”.
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The criminal charges were filed by Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette against three employees from the state’s health and environmental departments, the newspaper said. She hadn’t yet been charged but was reassigned after the water crisis came to light and her firing was announced in February.
The Legionnaire’s component of the water crisis remains a crucial part of the investigation and is forefront in the minds of investigators every day, Flood said.
State Attorney General Schuette announced the six additional charges at a news conference. “Some people failed to act, others minimized harm done and arrogantly chose to ignore data, some intentionally altered figures and covered up significant health risks”.
“Each of these individuals attempted to bury or cover up, to downplay or to hide information that contradicted their own narrative, their story”, Schuette said.
Under the leadership of a state-appointed emergency manager, officials in April 2014 began using the Flint River as Flint’s water supply. “And the victims, these are real people, families that have been lied to by government officials and treated as expendable”.
The accusations mark the third round of charges related to the investigation into the Flint watercrisis.
Shekter Smith was charged with misconduct in office and willful neglect of duty.
Schuette said this put children in the “cross hairs of drinking poison”.
The Associated Press left messages for Cook and Miller and could not find listed numbers for Rosenthal, Peeler and Scott. Peeler and Scott are still employed there.
Charged are Michigan Department of Health and Human Services workers Nancy Peeler, Corinne Miller and Robert Scott, and Michigan Department of Environmental Quality employees Liane Shekter-Smith; Adam Rosenthal and Patrick Cook, according to testimony this morning in Flint’s district court.
Despite the steps forward, the residents of Flint have suffered greatly during the two years of lead exposure and limited access to potable water. She was sacked from her position in February, according to the Detroit Free Press. Lead can be toxic, and children are especially vulnerable. He entered a no contest plea to one count of willful neglect of duty, a misdemeanor, in exchange for dismissal of a felony charge of tampering with evidence.
In March, a state task force that investigated the Flint crisis concluded that it was a “case of environmental injustice”.
Six additional state employees now face criminal charges for hiding unsafe lead levels leading up to the Flint water crisis-but Gov. Rick Snyder and his top officials continue to evade accountability.
Mike Glasgow, the Flint utilities director, struck a deal in May with prosecutors, offering cooperation in exchange for a reduction in charges as lead contamination investigations rolled on. The other employees facing charges are suspended without pay, it said.
Schuette and Andy Arena, the lead investigator who once led Detroits FBI office, say nobody is off-limits from investigation or prosecution. “Just go ahead and say OK, we knew the water was bad and we’re going to correct it”. We’re a long way from done.
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