Schuette said the investigative team members have interviewed 200 people and are “far from done”.
Advertisement
A task force appointed by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, to investigate what led up to the lead-tainting debacle found that the agency was unlikely to enforce clean drinking water regulations in the city without “widespread public outrage”.
“There are no targets here”, Schuette said. “But on some other level it just feels like a show, because we’re still living our lives with bottled water”.
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette called a news conference to further discuss the criminal charges.
Shekter Smith’s attorney, Brian Morley, said Friday that he was surprised she was charged.
One way that the state is seeking to correct these wrongs has been to name six state employees which the MI attorney general claims had a direct role in allowing the residents to be poisoned, unknowingly, for two years.
This is the second round of charges centered around Flint’s contaminated water.
“I don’t get it. I don’t understand the lack of compassion”. Lawsuits I can understand.
Shekter Smith was sacked from the environmental department. Conspiracy, evidence tampering and neglect charges were also filed.
Mike Glasgow, the city employee, pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor and more serious charges were dismissed in exchange for his cooperation with investigators. Two additional state employees charged are no longer with DEQ or MDHHS.
“Their offences vary but there is an overall theme and repeated pattern”, Mr. Schuette told reporters on Friday.
Six state employees were criminally charged this morning in district court in connection with the Flint water crisis.
“There are no targets”, Schuette said at the news conference.
He said Peeler, the early childhood health section manager at the DHHS, buried a report about lead levels in Flint children’s blood and “produced a bogus report that she and Robert Scott prepared”.
“Shekter Smith ignored reports that the (water treatment) plant was out of compliance, lied that the water plant was certified, and deliberately misled her superiors”, Schuette said. Officials have yet to say when residents can drink unfiltered water, and many clamor for the city’s network of lead pipes underground to be replaced.
All three are charged with willful neglect of duty, misconduct in office and conspiracy. Some experts think that a potentially fatal Legionnaires’ disease outbreak is tied to the water as well.
“There is one system of justice”, Schuette said, “and it applies to everybody”.
Cook is accused of being aware of problems with Flint’s water, but allegedly took no corrective action.
The switch was meant to save money, but instead created a public health crisis that continues more than two years later.
Advertisement
Friday’s charges will be challenging to prosecute, according to Wayne State University law professor Peter J. Henning. “When our investigation is completed and our prosecutions are successful, then accountability and justice will be delivered to the families of Flint”. “Like organized crime, we are working our way up in the DEQ and expanding the scope of investigation”. Several months after the crisis started, people from across the nation were calling for employees to be held responsible.
