FLINT, Mich. (AP) — A judge on Monday ordered Michigan’s state health director to stand trial for involuntary manslaughter in two deaths linked to Legionnaires’ disease in the Flint area, the highest ranking official to stand trial as a result of the tainted water scandal.
Nick Lyon is accused of failing to issue a timely alert to the public about the outbreak. State Judge David Goggins said deaths likely could have been prevented if the outbreak had been publicly known and keeping the public in the dark was “corrupt.”
When the judge announced the decision, a woman in the gallery said, “Yes, yes, yes.”
Some experts have blamed Legionnaires’ on the scandal over Flint’s water, which wasn’t properly treated when it was drawn from the Flint River in 2014 and 2015.
Goggins found there’s probable cause for a trial. The legal standard isn’t as high as beyond a reasonable doubt.
