State health chief among five charged in Flint death

FLINT, Mich. — Five people, including the head of Michigan’s health department, were charged Wednesday with involuntary manslaughter in an investigation of Flint’s lead-contaminated water, all blamed in the death of an 85-year-old man who had Legionnaires’ disease.

Nick Lyon is the highest-ranking member of Republican Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration to be snagged in a criminal investigation of how the city’s water system became poisoned after officials tapped the Flint River in 2014.

Lyon, 48, the director of the Health and Human Services Department, is accused of failing to alert the majorityblack population about an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in the Flint area.

Lyon also is charged with misconduct in office for allegedly obstructing university researchers who are studying if the surge in cases was linked to the Flint River.

The others charged with involuntary manslaughter are Darnell Earley, who was Flint’s emergency manager; Howard Croft, who ran Flint’s public works department; and state environmental regulators Liane Shekter Smith and Stephen Busch.

Prosecutors also brought charges Wednesday against the state’s chief medical officer, Dr. Eden Wells who is accused of obstruction of justice and lying to an investigator.

Flint began using water from the Flint River while under state emergency management but did not treat it to reduce corrosion. Toxic lead from old plumbing leached into the water system, causing elevated levels in children and leaving residents to drink and bathe with bottled or filtered water.

Some experts also have linked the water to Legionnaires’ disease, a type of pneumonia caused by bacteria that thrive in warm water and infect the lungs. People can get sick if they inhale mist or vapor, typically from cooling systems.

There were nearly 100 cases in the Flint area, including 12 deaths, in 2014 and 2015.

Lyon, Croft, Earley, Shekter Smith and Busch are blamed in the death of Robert Skidmore in December 2015. He was admitted to Mcclaren Flint hospital in June 2015 with symptoms consistent with pneumonia. He died at home six months later.