Michigan Files Criminal Charges Against Six State Workers Over Flint Water Crisis (Video)

Coverup, Willful Neglect

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette Friday morning detailed the criminal charges against six state government employees for their role in the Flint drinking water crisis. Among the charges are felonies in response to what the AG says shows “willful neglect” and an attempt to cover up what scientific tests clearly showed as dangerous drinking water. Other charges include tampering with evidence and conspiracy-tampering with evidence.

Special prosecutor Todd Flood (photo) in a press conference Friday morning said no other case “has jarred my soul more than this, for the lack of caring, the lack of compassion.” 

Two Department of Environmental Quality workers, according to CNN, are being charged: water quality analyst Adam Rosenthal and Patrick Cook, community drinking water unit specialist. Rosenthal “faces charges of misconduct in office, willful neglect of duty, tampering with evidence and conspiracy-tampering with evidence,” and Cook “is charged with willful neglect of duty, misconduct in office and conspiracy.”

Liane Shekter-Smith, the former chief of the Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance at the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality “is charged with one count of misconduct in office and one count of willful neglect of duty,” CNN adds.

In total, Michigan today, Buzzfeed reports, charged three employees from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and three employees from the Department of Environmental Quality.