Opinion ID: 4536379
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Earley

Text: Darnell Earley was Emergency Manager for the City from September 2013 (prior to the crisis) to January 2015 (in the midst of the crisis). Earley forced the switch to Flint River water when he knew that the FWTP was not ready and that it was important that the water be treated. R. 620-3 (Fourth Am. Compl. at 51, ¶ 147) (Page ID #17854); see also Guertin, 912 F.3d at 927. Plaintiffs-Appellees also allege that Earley directed City officials to lie to the public and tell them that the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in the summer of 2014 “was ‘an internal issue at McLaren [Hospital] that they are working on with our assistance, not a Flint water problem that we are trying to resolve.’” R. 620-3 (Fourth Am. Compl. at 59, ¶ 175) (Page ID #17862). Even after he was briefed on water quality issues by the MDEQ in the fall of 2014, Earley refused to reconnect to the DWSD. Id. at 60–61, ¶¶ 180–81 (Page ID #17863–64). He again refused to reconnect to the DWSD in January 2015, when officials were aware of the lead and legionella problems and after the University of Michigan ceased use of Flint River drinking water because of lead contamination. Id. at 62, ¶¶ 185–86 (Page ID #17865). These actions plausibly demonstrate deliberate indifference to the crisis that would likely result. Nos. 19-1425/1472/1477/1533 Waid et al. v. Snyder et al. Page 25