Health director charged in Flint water crisis deaths

A judge on Monday ordered the director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to stand trial for involuntary manslaughter in two deaths stemming from the Flint, Mich., water crisis. The city didn’t properly treat water it pulled from the Flint River in 2014 and 2015, leading to an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease and widespread lead poisoning. Health Department Director Nick Lyon is accused of failing to alert the public about the Legionnaires’ cases in a timely manner. Michigan District Court Judge David Goggins said Lyon could have saved lives by notifying people sooner about the outbreak. At least 90 people in Genesee County got sick, and 12 died from the disease. Lyon’s defense team said he waited to share information with the public because he didn’t have solid facts about the cause of the outbreak. Lyon is the highest-ranking official among 15 individuals charged with crimes in the Flint water crisis so far.