(WAUKEGAN) The death of a man who was allegedly beaten while in North Chicago Police custody has been reclassified as a homicide by the Lake County Coroner, the News-Sun is reporting.

Darrin Hanna, 45, died at a hospital a week after the alleged beating in November 2011. In March 2012, Hanna's manner of death was rule "undetermined."

Hanna, 45, was arrested Nov. 6, 2011, after police responded to a call of a domestic disturbance at his apartment. Witnesses claim he was brought out on a stretcher 20 minutes later with a sheet covering his face. Relatives and others claim he was beaten and Tasered by police.

He was taken to Vista Medical Center East, where he died a week later.

At the time of Hanna's autopsy, then-coroner Artis Yancey blamed a "combination of complications" for the death including: "Acute and chronic cocaine abuse, physical trauma and restraint, Taser restraint, poorly controlled hypertension and chronic renal insufficiency."

Hanna's mother, Gloria Carr, and his son, DeLorean McKinney, have a filed a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court, arguing that a beating inflicted by police led to Hanna's death.

Yancey was defeated in the March 2012 Democratic Primary. His opponent, Dr. Thomas Rudd, announced the re-classification Tuesday after obtaining new information, reviewing the evidence and consulting with forensic science experts.

"Homicide occurs when a person's death results from a volitional act committed by another person to cause fear, harm, or death," Rudd added. "Intent to cause death is a common element, but is not required for classification as a homicide.

"It must be emphasized that the classification of homicide for the purposes of death investigation is a neutral term and neither indicates nor implies criminal intent, which remains within the province of legal processes," the coroner said.

— Lake County News-Sun
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