Flint residents who since 2014 have gone without clean water will finally get some inkling of justice.
According to reports, former Michigan governor Rick Snyder, his health director Nick Lyon, and other ex-officials have been notified by the state of Michigan that they will face charges after a newly opened investigation into the Flint water scandal that continues to decimate a majority African-American city.
Two people with knowledge of the planned prosecution told the AP on Tuesday that the attorney general’s office has informed defense lawyers about indictments in Flint and told them to expect initial court appearances soon. They spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
The AP could not determine the nature of the charges against Snyder, former health department director Nick Lyon and others who were in the Snyder administration. The attorney general’s office declined to comment on details of the ongoing investigation. Spokeswoman Courtney Covington Watkins said investigators were “working diligently” and “will share more as soon as we’re in a position to do so.”
ClickonDetroit.com
Snyder — who’s been out of office for two years now was governor of Michigan when state-appointed managers signed off on a cost-cutting measure to switch Flint’s water source to the Flint River while a pipeline was being constructed to Lake Huron. However, in one of the most heinous examples of government mismanagement, heartlessness, and criminality, the water was not treated to reduce corrosion which according to state regulators caused lead to discharge from old pipes and contaminate the distribution system used by nearly 100,000 of Flint’s residents. Of those 100,000 were also an entire generation of children who may suffer the lasting effects of the poison from the water they were drinking and bathing in.
The poisoned water was also blamed for an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in 2014-15 which can trigger a form of pneumonia, especially in people with weakened immune systems. In total, 90 cases of the disease were reported in Genesee County (where Flint is located) and 12 deaths.