Civil Suit Alleges Chief Finney Killed Kiwane Carrington

This story was a collaboration between
UC-IMC and Smile Politely. It and a copy
of the nine-page civil suit were released on
their web sites simultaneously at 3 p.m. on
Wednesday, October 13. By 4 p.m. the City
of Champaign had put out a press release
calling the allegations “completely false”
and by 6 p.m. the local press had picked up
the story, largely repeating the city’s
denials. Yet contained in the civil suit is the
first public statement from Jeshaun Manning-
Carter, the only surviving non-police
officer who was at the scene when Kiwane
was shot. You can read it at UCIMC or
Smile Politely.
A civil suit filed on October 6, 2010 raises
new questions about who shot Kiwane
Carrington last year. The complaint filed
on behalf of Jeshaun Manning-Carter and
his mother, Laura Manning, alleges that
Champaign Police Chief R.T. Finney, and
not Officer Daniel Norbits, “fired a shot
downward into the chest of Kiwane Carrington,
killing Carrington.” The suit
charges the City of Champaign and Finney
with “intentional infliction of emotional
distress” on Manning-Carter.
Alfred Ivy, attorney for the plaintiff, stated,
“He [Manning-Carter] didn’t want to
talk about it for a long time; he wasn’t comfortable
talking about it.”
The allegation that Finney pulled the
trigger is a direct contradiction of officers’
sworn statements and the findings of the
Illinois State Police investigation into the
incident. Visit the Kiwane Carrington
Timeline website for all the public documents
associated with the investigation.
“I’m just an employee [of the plaintiff],”
Ivy explained. “I don’t tell people
what to say. I do ask lots of questions,
and [Manning-Carter] was adamant that
it didn’t happen the way that the report
said it did.”
Manning-Carter was the only other person
present with Carrington in the backyard
of the home at 906 W. Vine St. in
Champaign when Chief Finney and Officer
Norbits responded to a call to investigate a
reported attempted burglary. Manning-
Carter was initially charged with Aggravated
Resisting a Peace Officer; those charges
were dismissed on April 13, 2010.
The civil suit filed by Carrington’s
family against the City of Champaign
has been settled, James D. Montgomery,
Jr., attorney for the Carrington family,
has confirmed.
A detailed ballistics report was not
part of the investigation, although the
ISP firearms report assigns the fired cartridge
to Norbits’ gun. “All evidence in
the case is currently in the possession of
the FBI. C-U Citizens for Peace and Justice
and the local Ministerial Alliance
have filed complaints with the Department
of Justice and are waiting for the
results of their investigation,” said Brian
Dolinar of CUCPJ.
(Ed. note: if you read the pdf of the
complaint, Count II and Count III both
charge Chief Finney with intentional
infliction of emotional distress. After
speaking with Ivy, it’s our understanding
that Norbits is intended