flint water crisis
Four more Flint officials charged over water crisis
Four more officials were charged Tuesday in connection to the lead-contaminated water crisis in Flint, Michigan, as Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette announced two of the city's former emergency managers and two water plant officials will face felony charges of "false pretenses and conspiracy." The emergency managers, who will be the highest-ranking officials to be charged thus far over the water crisis, will also face misdemeanor charges for "misconduct in office and willful neglect of duty," CNN reported.
"All too prevalent and very evident during the course of this investigation has been a fixation on finances and balance sheets," Schuette said Tuesday at a press conference. "This fixation has cost lives. This fixation came with the expense of protecting the health and safety of Flint." Tuesday's charges bring the total number of people charged up to 13, as the city continues to deal with the fallout of its bureaucratic negligence.
Schuette has also filed lawsuits against water supply engineering firms. Thousands of children in Flint were exposed to dangerously high levels of lead in their drinking water after the local government, under a state-appointed emergency manager, changed the city's water sources in April 2014.