The Champaign community is remembering the Champaign man who died after being detained by police.
Police were called to South 6th Street for reports of a man running into traffic and yelling at people passing by. Officers say 54-year-old Richard Turner passed out after he was detained.
Turner was pronounced dead at Carle Foundation Hospital. A preliminary autopsy showed no signs of injury or trauma.
Students at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign are leaving pictures and flowers on Green Street in his memory.
Many students knew Turner as a campus legend.
"I know my friends called him 'Richie,' some others called him 'Black Santa' because he looked like Santa Claus, but he was a very beloved man. He was very well known," says Daniel Pituch, a sophomore at U of I.Â
"That guy touched my heart in many different ways. He may have been homeless and he may have had his demons, but he was still a good person and he didn't deserve to go this way," says Kyle De Lap, a PSR at Carle Foundation Hospital, who worked at a business on Green Street near where Turner used to sit.
Toxicology results for Turner are still pending.
See the original story from WAND here: http://managewand.worldnow.com/flow/storynew/edit/33729239
