The water tower and water plant in Flint, Mich., March 5, 2015. Health Director Nick Lyons is being charged with manslaughter for the deaths of two people. (Joshua Lott/The New York Times)
The fallout of the Flint water crisis continues in Michigan as a judge ruled this week that prosecutors have enough evidence to take a state official to trial for manslaughter.
Nick Lyons was the director of the state’s health department and is accused of “failing to issue a timely alert about the outbreak” of Legionnaires’ disease, according to the Associated Press. Lyons admitted to knowing several cases of the rare disease had been reported months before it was disclosed to local doctors, and nearly a year before the public was warned, NPR reported.
At least a dozen people died from the outbreak in Genesee County, and about a dozen more became seriously ill, the news outlet stated. Lyons now faces two counts of involuntary manslaughter stemming from two of the deaths, as well as charges for misconduct in the office and willful neglect of duty.
“The victims’ deaths, that is Robert Skidmore and John Snyder, their deaths were caused by this neglect of the defendant,” said District Judge David Goggins.
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