Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder was charged Wednesday with willful neglect of duty in connection to the lead-contaminated water disasters throughout the area, which resulted in a regional outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease, the Associated Press reported. Legionnaires’ disease is a type of pneumonia caused by legionella bacteria.
The charges, found in an online court record, are misdemeanors punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine, the report added.
The charges are being given for the first time in the state’s nearly 200 year history, as no governor or former governor in Michigan was charged with crimes connected to their time in that elected office, according to the article.
The former Republican governor held his position from 2011 through 2018, and charges are expected against other people, including former officials who served under him.
The alleged offense date per the article is April 25, 2014, when a Snyder-appointed emergency manager was running the primarily Black city made a money-saving decision to use the Flint River for water when a regional pipeline from Lake Huron was under construction.
According to the report, the corrosive water was not treated properly and released lead from old plumbing into homes in this manmade environmental disaster.
Residents begged local and state officials to fix the disgusting, discolored water — and, according to the report, the Snyder administration took no major strides until a doctor reported high lead levels in children roughly 18 months later.
“I’m sorry and I will fix it,” Snyder said in response during his 2016 State of the State speech, according to the report.
Authorities counted at a minimum of 90 cases of Legionnaires’ disease in Genesee County, including 12 deaths, according to the report.
According to the report, the criminal investigation lasted five years under two teams of prosecutors.
Nick Lyon, former state health director, was charged with involuntary manslaughter and bound over for trial. Chip Chamberlain, who is representing Lyon, release this statement:
“Today our client, Nick Lyon, and his family learned that once again he has been charged by the Attorney General’s office with serious offenses stemming from the switch in Flint’s municipal water supply almost seven years ago.
Our hearts go out to Flint citizens who have endured the fallout from that decision. But it does not help the people of Flint – or our criminal justice system – for the State to charge innocent people with crimes. Mr. Lyon is innocent.
He did not make the decision to switch the water supply and had nothing to do with handling the water. Everything he did as director of the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services [MDHHS] he did based on the advice of highly trained epidemiologists and public health scientists and experts who themselves were looking at the science and following the data.
It’s apparent that once again, the Attorney General has ignored the facts and the evidence. This is a dangerous day for state employees.”
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