BackStory

In my previous post (Police Brutality in Illinois) I presented the facts about what happened the afternoon of October 9, 2009.

Kiwane Carrington, 15 years old, from Champaign Illinois was shot and killed at his home in a Champaign neighborhood.  He was shot by a verteran officer Norbitz when his weapon went off.  The other teen (a friend of Kiwane) was arrested and taken into custody for resisting a peace officer.

Since the community was in an uproar the Champaign City Council and the mayor of Champaign decided to hold a city council meeting for people in the community to come and voice their concerns.  The city council meeting had a very large turnout filled people of all color, age, and class.  Most were angry and demanding answers that the leaders of Champaign could not yet give them.

The Problem

Members of this community are outraged with the turnout of this situation for many reasons.  Their is a fifteen year old young man dead because of the lack of judgment by the responding officers.  But, the catalyst of all the uproar is the fact that this young man was shot and killed while trying to enter a house where he lived.  The Champaign Police Department think that this is justified due to their new "use of force" policy.  They think that somewhere in this new policy, something is written that gives them the right to shoot somebody that is resisting them.  The only way this should be properly justified is when the perpetrator is in fact armed.  These two boys were not armed in any fasion.  So how can this be properly justified? 

I am a white male, in my mid twenties, and live in a middle class neighborhood in Champaign, Illinois.  I have watched time and time again how the Champaign Police Department try to justify their actions when they are clearly wrong.  I was pleased to see all of the young and older people of the white community voice their concerns and how this police department operates.  It seems like for once, that most of the community (people of every skin color) is against the police department in this case.

This particular story is a story that has been heard all over the county.  There are many different opinions that come to mind by many different individuals.  Some say, that if these two boys hadn't resisted, that this young man might still be alive.  This may be true, but does that still justify his death because he did resist.  We don't even know that they really did resist.  That is just something that these two officers are saying.  It doesn't neccesarily mean that its true. Others say, because of some of the previous incidents in this neighborhood, police are skeptical and nervous when they respond to a call.  Well, if they are that skeptical and that nervous where they make very poor judgment calls while responding to these calls, they don't belong on our police force to begin with.

Not the End

As noted in my previous post (Police Brutality in Illinois) the investigation is still ongoing.  The Illinois State Police Department is conducting the investigation and they tell us that the investigation should be wrapped up in the next few weeks.  Hopefully the investigation will uncover the truth and justice can be served.  Kiwane Carrington deserves proper justice.  I can tell you that if there is anything fishy with the final report this community will not stand for it.  Or if justice isn't properly served, this community will not rest easy.