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5 Michigan Health Officials Charged in Death in Flint Crisis 5 Charged With Involuntary Manslaughter in Flint Water Crisis
(about 5 hours later)
FLINT, Mich. — Five officials in Michigan, including the head of the state’s health department, were charged on Tuesday with involuntary manslaughter, marking the first time investigators have drawn a direct link between the acts of government officials in Flint’s water contamination crisis and the deaths of residents that followed. 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.
Since 2014, when this city switched water suppliers, partly to save money, the water has been linked to the lead poisoning of children and the deaths of 12 people from Legionnaires’ disease. It was one those deaths that led to the involuntary manslaughter accusations, Bill Schuette, Michigan’s attorney general, said on Wednesday. He also announced a new list of charges in a sweeping investigation that has already led to cases against 13 officials. By then, it was too late for Mr. Skidmore and 11 others: a failing so egregious, prosecutors say, that it amounted to involuntary manslaughter.
“The health crisis in Flint has created a trust crisis in Michigan government,” Mr. Schuette said. 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.
Mr. Schuette said that Nick Lyon, the director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, and four other state and local officials failed to properly alert the public about a Legionnaires’ outbreak and the possibility that another outbreak would happen. Those four other state and local officials had previously been charged with other crimes in connection with the water crisis. 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 only trust bottled water, given false assurances they once received from state and local officials.
Mr. Lyon was also accused of misconduct in office, a felony. His lawyer did not immediately return a call for comment. The latest charges reached farther than before into Michigan’s state government, affecting two cabinet-level officials in the administration of Gov. Rick Snyder and leaving open the possibility that the investigation would go higher still.
The charging documents pointed in particular to one of the 12 who perished after the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak: Robert Skidmore, 85, who died on Dec. 13, 2015. Mr. Schuette said that Mr. Skidmore, a longtime auto industry worker, had been tending to his ailing wife in a Flint-area hospital when he grew ill himself — apparently from the water. Nick Lyon, the director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, was charged with involuntary manslaughter and misconduct in office, felonies that could lead to as much as 20 years in prison. Dr. Eden V. Wells, the chief medical executive for the department, was charged with obstruction of justice and lying to a peace officer, and could face up to seven years if convicted. They are among 15 current and former state and local officials facing criminal charges as a 17-month investigation into Flint’s tainted water supply continues.
“It’s a very tragic story,” Mr. Schuette said, adding later: “The family had to bury their mother and their father.” Before Wednesday, the criminal charges had focused mainly on the lead contamination and, in counts like misconduct in office and willful neglect of duty, on ways that state and city workers had failed to do their jobs.
The charging documents said that Mr. Lyon’s “acts and failure to act resulted in the death of at least one person.” It asserted that Mr. Lyon “willfully disregarded the deadly nature” of the Legionnaires’ outbreak and “exhibited gross negligence when he failed to alert the public about the deadly outbreak and by taking steps to suppress information illustrating obvious and apparent harms that were likely to result in serious injury. “The Flint water crisis was and is a failure of leadership,” said an investigative report issued on Wednesday by Bill Schuette, Michigan’s attorney general. “A cause of the breakdown in state governmental management was a fixation, a preoccupation, with data, finances and costs, instead of placing the health, safety and welfare of citizens first.”
If convicted of involuntary manslaughter and misconduct in office, Mr. Lyon faces up to 20 years in prison. Besides, the report found, a solution for Flint’s essential water problem was maddeningly simple, and cheap: The addition of common anti-corrosion chemicals could have cost the financially struggling city only $200 a day.
Also charged on Tuesday was Eden Wells, the chief medical executive for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Wells was charged with obstruction of justice and lying to a peace officer. But officials failed to take that step when they switched the city’s water supply in early 2014, the investigators said, partly to save money. Residents began complaining of puzzling colors, putrid odors and an array of rashes and illnesses, which eventually included Legionnaires’ disease.
The latest charges brought to 15 the number of people charged in connection to Flint’s water crisis. Mr. Schuette said that his investigation was not over. In charging Mr. Lyon, and four others who already faced other charges in the water case, with involuntary manslaughter, Mr. Schuette said they had failed to properly alert the public about increases in Legionnaires’ cases, allowing the problem to continue and withholding crucial information from residents, who might have avoided the water had they known.
Mr. Schuette is a Republican who is widely seen as a possible candidate for governor of Michigan in 2018. He declined to say whether the investigation might lead to charges against Gov. Rick Snyder. He said that investigators had tried to interview Governor Snyder, who is barred by term limits from running for re-election, without success. Mr. Schuette would not elaborate. An examination of government emails from 2014, 2015 and 2016 revealed that officials were aware of the pattern of Legionnaires’ cases, but that they failed to act swiftly on the revelations and tended to become mired in jurisdictional battles over protocol and responsibility.
Mr. Lyon knew of the Legionnaires’ outbreak by late January 2015, court documents claim, but did not notify the public for another year. At one point, the documents allege, he said that “he can’t save everyone” and that “everyone has to die of something.”
The charging documents pointed in particular to the death of Mr. Skidmore, the former autoworker, on Dec. 13, 2015. Mr. Schuette said that Mr. Skidmore had been tending to his ailing wife in mid-2015 when he grew ill, apparently from the water.
According to the charges, Mr. Lyon’s “acts and failure to act resulted in the death of at least one person,” Mr. Skidmore. The documents asserted that Mr. Lyon “willfully disregarded the deadly nature” of the Legionnaires’ outbreak and “exhibited gross negligence when he failed to alert the public about the deadly outbreak and by taking steps to suppress information illustrating obvious and apparent harms that were likely to result in serious injury.”
Defense lawyers for Mr. Lyon called the claims baseless and said they were confident in their client’s case. One challenge for prosecutors may be proving a direct link between Flint’s corroding water pipes and Legionnaires’ disease, legal experts said. Some scientists have suggested that the corrosion may have allowed Legionella bacteria to thrive in the water supply during warm summer months.
“The true facts simply do not support the prosecution’s claims,” the defense lawyers, Chip Chamberlain and Larry Willey, said in a written statement. “This case appears to be a misguided theory looking for facts that do not exist.”
Governor Snyder, too, issued a statement of support for Mr. Lyons and Dr. Wells, and appeared to criticize the legal process, noting that other state employees had been charged more than a year ago but had yet to be tried in court.
“That is not justice for Flint, nor for those who have been charged,” Mr. Snyder said. “Director Lyon and Dr. Wells have been and continue to be instrumental in Flint’s recovery. They have my full faith and confidence, and will remain on duty at D.H.H.S.”
Mr. Schuette, a Republican, is widely seen as a possible candidate for governor in 2018. He declined to say whether the investigation might lead to charges against Mr. Snyder, though he emphasized that it was continuing and that the investigative report issued on Wednesday was an “interim” look at the Flint case. He said investigators had tried unsuccessfully to interview Mr. Snyder, who is barred by term limits from running for re-election, but he would not elaborate.
“We only file criminal charges when evidence of probable cause to commit a crime has been established, and we are not filing charges at this time,” Mr. Schuette said.“We only file criminal charges when evidence of probable cause to commit a crime has been established, and we are not filing charges at this time,” Mr. Schuette said.
Governor Snyder issued a statement of support for Mr. Lyons and Dr. Wells, and appeared critical of the legal process, noting that other state employees had been charged more than a year ago but had yet to have their cases tried in court. Mr. Skidmore, whose death is at the center of the five counts of involuntary manslaughter issued on Wednesday, was found to have Legionnaires’ disease in June 2015, after he went to a hospital with pneumonialike symptoms.
“That is not justice for Flint nor for those who have been charged,” Mr. Snyder said. “Director Lyon and Dr. Wells have been and continue to be instrumental in Flint’s recovery. They have my full faith and confidence, and will remain on duty at D.H.H.S.” “It’s a very tragic story,” Mr. Schuette said, adding later, “The family had to bury their mother and their father.”
Mr. Skidmore’s wife of more than six decades died only weeks after he became ill, and Mr. Skidmore continued to fight his symptoms on top of grief, his family said.
“Grandma died. Six months later, after bouncing between the hospital, home care and back, he passed away,” said Megan Skidmore Cuttitta, his granddaughter. “Each time he went to the hospital, he’d get better, but each time he came home, he got worse.”