{"id":44580,"date":"2016-07-29T14:04:36","date_gmt":"2016-07-29T18:04:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=44580"},"modified":"2016-07-29T14:06:02","modified_gmt":"2016-07-29T18:06:02","slug":"6-state-employees-criminally-charged-in-connection-with-flint-water-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=44580","title":{"rendered":"6 state employees criminally charged in connection with Flint water crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Michigan<\/a>

Michigan Attorney General William “Bill” Schuette \u00a9 Dominick Reuter \/ Reuters<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette indicted six state employees for their alleged connection to the dangerous levels of lead in the city of Flint\u2019s drinking water. “They had knowledge and ability to stop the problem, but they failed,” Schuette said.<\/p>\n

The charges were authorized by Judge Nathaniel C. Perry II early Friday against three employees, each from the state’s health and environmental departments.<\/p>\n

\"\u00a9<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

Read more: \u00a0\u2018The law has been broken routinely\u2019: Scientist who identified lead contamination in Flint to RT<\/a><\/p>\n

At a Friday press conference, Schuette and Todd Flood, the private lawyer leading the attorney general\u2019s investigation, said that there will be justice for families in Flint.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Michigan the system is not rigged,\u201d<\/em> Schuette told reporters. \u201cThere\u2019s one system of justice \u2013 it applies to everyone equal, no matter who you are.\u201d<\/em>
\nThe six individuals are being charged with misconduct in office, conspiracy and willful neglect of duty for manipulating reports that would have otherwise indicated that water in Flint was not safe to drink. Adam Rosenthal, one of the six, is also facing felony charges of tampering with evidence.
\nMisconduct in office and conspiracy are felony charges that carry a five-year sentence, and willful neglect of duty is a one-year misdemeanor.<\/p>\n

Flood said that the injustice perpetrated by the government employees is particularly unsettling to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been involved in thousands of cases,\u201d<\/em> the attorney said. “There isn\u2019t a case that has jarred my soul like this one. Every time you turn the page you say, \u2018you can\u2019t make this up.\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The six new indictments bring the total number of individuals charged in relation to the Flint water crisis to nine. Schuette had brought felony charges against two Michigan Department of Environmental Quality officials and one City of Flint official in April.<\/p>\n

Flint\u2019s water supply became contaminated with lead after the city switched its water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River as the result of financial difficulties. The corrosive water from the river caused lead from pipes to leach into drinking water, leading to health problems with the residents of the city.<\/p>\n

Michigan governor\u00a0Rick Snyder was reported to withhold information <\/a>from the investigation.<\/p>\n

___
\n6 state employees criminally charged in connection with Flint water crisis \u2014 RT America<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette indicted six state employees for their alleged connection to the dangerous levels of lead in the city of Flint\u2019s drinking water. “They had knowledge and ability to stop the problem, but they failed,” Schuette said. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44580\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}