Six state employees have been criminally charged in connection with the Flint water crisis, according to the Detroit Free Press. “The governor and his team are focused on helping the people of Flint recover, as evidenced by the efforts to secure more than $234 million for service line replacement, healthcare, education, the creation of hundreds of jobs for Flint residents and the restoration of the city’s overall water quality”.
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An independent investigation of the Flint water crisis concluded in March that officials within the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality are mostly to blame, although other officials share some responsibility, and called the prolonged poisoning of the Flint water supply “a story of government failure, intransigence, unpreparedness, delay, inaction, and environmental injustice”.
Meanwhile, Flint Mayor Karen Weaver told the Democratic National Convention this week that in her city, the “water is still not safe to drink or cook with from the tap”.
At a Friday press conference, Schuette and Todd Flood, the private lawyer leading the attorney general’s investigation, said that there will be justice for families in Flint.
About the charges, Desiree Duell of Flint, a mother, artist and ardent water activist, commented, “It’s a start, but the activists won’t stop fighting until full reparations are given to Flint and all governmental officials are held accountable.”
Three are from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services: Nancy Peeler, director of the program for maternal, infant and early childhood home visiting; Robert Scott, data manager for the Healthy Homes and Lead Prevention Program; and Corinne Miller, former director of the Bureau of Epidemiology and a state epidemiologist. Lead contamination has been linked to learning disabilities and other problems.
Schuette and Andy Arena, the lead investigator who once led Detroit’s FBI office, say nobody is off-limits from investigation or prosecution.
Schuette alleges Rosenthal, who worked in Shekter-Smith’s section, was warned by Flint Water Treatment Plant officials they were not ready for operations.
In the case of the latter department, Liane Shekter-Smith, Patrick Cook and Adam Rosenthal.
The first round of criminal charges from Schuette’s Flint Water Investigation were filed on April 20, 2016 against two Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) employees and one City of Flint employee.
Schuette later brought a civil lawsuit against engineering and consulting firms that had consulted on the Flint Water Treatment Plant.
When Schuette announced this week that he was handing down more criminal charges, speculation loomed over whether he would seek to indict higher-level officials or politicians.
Friday’s charges will be challenging to prosecute, according to Wayne State University law professor Peter J. Henning. A listed number for Scott couldn’t be found and Miller’s attorney, Kristen Guinn, declined to discuss the case. “The other two state employees charged are no longer with DEQ or MDHHS”, they said.
Murphy is glad to see charges filed against the state employees, who investigators said had a hand in delaying the water crisis from becoming known to the public.
When asked why Gov. Rick Snyder isn’t “being arrested”, Schuette responded: “There is no target”.
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Despite these concerns, there is still time for more and higher level charges.
