Kiwane Carrington Shooting Death Called Accidental by Coroner’s Jury

A Champaign County Coroner's Jury has ruled that the October police shooting death of Kiwane Carrington was an accident.

Coroner Duane Northrup says he would hope that this information would help provide some closure for the Champaign teen's family. After a task force investigation led by state police, Champaign County State's Attorney Julia Reitz ruled last year that Champaign police officer Daniel Norbits would not face criminal charges. He and Police Chief RT Finney confronted Carrington and another teen following a report of a break-in. Northrup says while some may disagree with the decision of authorities, a coroner's inquest provides an independent review of the death. "And then we can say it's not just a biased opinion by the coroner's office or the police department or the state's attorney," says Northrup. "These jurors were picked randomly from the community. They came in, the same information was given to them, and they made the determination that it was accidental. And I think that has the bigger impact on the familes."

Kenesha Williams, Carrington's sister and legal guardian, says testimony at the coroner's inquest provided conflicting information about what occurred on the afternoon of October 9th, but didn't elaborate. But Williams says she expected the death to be ruled accidental. A state police investigator noted Thursday that marijuana was found in Carrington's blood, but Nortrup noted it's hard to say whether that played a role in the teen's behavior when confronted by police. Based on an interview with Officer Norbits, State Police investigator Lisa Crouder testified that Carrington kept putting his hands in his pockets and failed to comply with orders.