Michigan's Top Health Official To Stand Trial For Flint Deaths

A judge issued a decision on August 20 that Michigan’s top public health official must stand trial for the death of two men in connection with the Flint water crisis.

Michigan Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon was charged last year with involuntary manslaughter, willful neglect of duty, and misconduct in office, WJRT reported.

The men, John Snyder and Robert Skidmore, “both allegedly died of Legionnaires' disease after the city's water source was switched to the Flint River in 2014, which kicked off the water crisis. Eventually, 12 people died and more than 80 were sickened as a result of two waves of a deadly Legionnaires' disease outbreak in Flint,” CNN reported, citing WJRT.

According to CNN, court papers state that Lyon is accused of "failing to alert the public about a Legionnaires' outbreak in Genesee County when he had noticed that another outbreak was foreseeable and ... conducting an investigation of the Legionnaires' outbreak in a grossly negligent manner."

Most cases of Legionnaires’ disease in the U.S. occur “in private homes with no common link other than their water supply, underscoring that drinking water distribution systems are the ultimate source of outbreaks,” Chemical & Engineering News reported.

Despite the pending trial, Lyon received the support of Michigan Governor Rick Snyder.

Snyder said that Lyon has his "full faith and confidence, and will remain on duty at DHHS unless convicted of a crime after a full trial by a jury of his peers," according to MLive.

"Nick Lyon has a long and tenured career in public health and has been a strong leader at the Department of Health and Human Services. Even during an unprecedented, nearly yearlong preliminary exam, Director Lyon has remained focused on his job and Flint's full recovery,” the statement continued. "Like every other person who is charged with a crime, he should be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt."