The head of Michigan’s health department could face up to 15 years in jail for the deaths of two men during Flint’s contaminated drinking water crisis.
Nick Lyon will stand trial on two counts on involuntary manslaughter for the deaths of Robert Skidmore and John Snyder, 67th District Judge David Goggins said Monday. Both men died of Legionnaire’s disease.
Their deaths could likely have been prevented if the state’s health director had alerted the public about the disease in a timely way, the judge said.
Lyon acted “willfully and neglectfully refused” to protect the lives of the two men by failing to “act appropriately with regards to disseminating notices to the public,” the judge said.
Keeping the public in the dark about the Legionnaire’s outbreak was “corrupt,” Goggins continued, as he announced he’d found probable cause for Lyon to stand trial in Genesee County Court.
Some experts said the Legionnaire’s outbreak that infected 90 people and caused 12 deaths in Genesee County was a result of Flint’s water not being properly treated when it was drawn from the city’s river in 2014 and 2015.
The Legionnaire’s outbreak was announced by Gov. Rick Snyder and Lyon in January 2016 — but Lyon said he knew that cases were being reported months earlier.
Lyon, who is also charged with misconduct in office, has denied any wrongdoing.
“It’s a long way from over,” he said.
The investigation by state Attorney General Bill Schuette’s office is part of a larger probe into how Flint’s water system became contaminated with dangerously high levels of lead.
Lyon is the highest-ranking of the 14 current or former state and local officials who have been charged with crimes, either related to the Legionnaire’s or lead in the water.
With Post wires
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