FLINT, Mich. (AP) – A jury has awarded $100,000 to a woman who says she lost her job after she denied falsifying blood test results of children exposed to lead-contaminated water in Flint, she said. Tuesday his lawyer.
April Cook-Hawkins worked at the Genesee County Health Department for about four to five months before she was forced to resign in 2016, said her attorney, Carol Laughbaum.
The department said Cook-Hawkins was fired because of her performance, but the jury did not accept that reason last Friday and awarded $100,000 for emotional distress, Laughbaum said.
“They (the health department) said she wasn’t a team player. Virtually nothing at trial showed she wasn’t a team player,” the lawyer said.
Carlos Osorio via Associated Press
Cook-Hawkins told jurors she was directed to record lead level results she knew were inaccurate.
“The county had two sets of records: blue sheets with actual test data and doctored versions, white sheets, with handwritten corrections that showed perfect lead levels,” Laughbaum said.
Michael Edmunds, an attorney who represented then-Chief of Nursing Toni LaRocco, said he was disappointed with the outcome of the trial.
“I am currently in the process of advising the county on its options,” he said.
Residents of the majority-black city were exposed to lead when the city drew water from the Flint River in 2014-15 without treating it to reduce the corrosive effect of the old pipes. The city switched back to a regional water supplier in the fall of 2015.
