Teen student died after trying to retrieve shoe inside rolled-up mat in freak accident

dailystar.co.uk:

US student Kendrick Johnson, whose body was found rolled up in a gym mat has been ruled as an accident nine years after he died.He was found dead in the mat at Lowndes High School's gym in Valdosta, Georgia, on January 11, 2013.State and local law enforcement have ruled the cause of death as accidental asphyxiation, which they say came from Johnson climbing into a rolled-up mat to retrieve his trainers.However, the ruling has not satisfied the family who continue to believe their son was killed.His father Kenneth Johnson told a news conference that he believes Kendrick’s death is being covered up.Speaking with NBC News, Kenneth said: “I will fight as long as I have to uncover what exactly happened to Kendrick Johnson.”Kenneth was seen at a news conference wearing a T-shirt that read: "Kendrick Johnson didn’t roll himself up into no mat.”There have also been inconsistencies in official reports of Kendrick’s body and other discrepancies, which have caused both the family and local community to question the cause of death.According to CNN, Kendrick’s family hired a pathologist to carry out an autopsy, which concluded that his death was "unexplained, apparent non-accidental, blunt-force trauma" to the neck.The latest ruling was the second time the case has been opened, both ruling that the teen died from slipping into the center of the mat and becoming stuck.In the new report, Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk wrote: “All of the evidence, testimony, interviews, grand jury testimony and even the blunt coercion and intimidation of some persons being questioned does not produce anything to prove anything that would have resulted in the death of Kendrick Johnson.”Paulk also dismissed theories that there was a cover up in the.