A tentative agreement is being discussed between the City of Champaign and the family of Kiwane Carrington, the 15-year-old who was accidentally shot and killed by a Champaign police officer last year.
Close to half a million dollars, $470,000 to be exact, will be given to the Carrington family to settle a wrongful death suit brought against the city if the resolution is approved by the Champaign City Council tonight.
When Daniel Norbits’ gun went off and Kiwane Carrington was killed last October, many of the citizens of Champaign were outraged. White police officer, black kid. The story seemed frustratingly familiar.
Obviously, the situation is infinitely more complex. But a few hard facts remain: Kiwane Carrington’s life is gone. An officer’s career and reputation have been sidetracked. And this community has to deal with its own palpable racial friction.
As an editorial board, we believe that this sum is wholly deserved by the Carrington family. The city should pay for the mistakes of one of its law enforcement agents, regardless of where guilt in the shooting itself lies. We know, however, that whatever sum the Carrington family could receive from Champaign, money can never fill the void left by Kiwane’s death. A life has been lost, and litigation won could never make up for it.
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Champaign’s taxpayers will pay for this settlement — local taxpayers, black and white. They will pay for it monetarily this time around. But the community pays for senseless violence in numerous ways. The cost manifests in a racial divide. It manifests in a lack of trust in the people paid to protect. It manifests in an erosion of a system that intends to rule justly and fairly.
This incident helped bring to light tensions between Champaign law enforcement and parts of the African-American community. Frustrations played out in city council meetings and elsewhere — but make no mistake, they existed before this tragedy. And even after this chapter of the story closes, the conversation needs to continue.
Regardless of whether taxpayers foot the bill for a settlement in the Kiwane Carrington case, the community has paid and continues to pay for its lack of investment in interracial respect and harmony. There needs to be a new investment by the City of Campaign in equality, respect and safety. Half a million dollars is a good start.
