Kennedy, 17, allegedly drove a 2011 Ford pick-up truck onto a private drive in Spartanburg County on Tuesday and struck a building, Master Trooper Mitchell Ridgeway said in a statement to CNN.
Ridgeway said a person inside the building sustained a fatal injury as a result of the collision.
The victim was 54-year-old Larry Duane Parris, according to Coroner Rusty Clevenger of the Spartanburg Coroner’s Office.
Parris was transported to Spartanburg Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 3:45 p.m.
Kennedy is being held at the Spartanburg County Detention Center, according to the county’s website. The crash remains under investigation, Ridgeway said.
It’s not clear if Kennedy has an attorney.
CNN has made several attempts to reach Kennedy’s family for comment, but has not gotten a response.
Last year, the then 16-year-old Kennedy bowed out of the Top 5 of ABC’s Season 19 of “American Idol” after a video surfaced that showed him with someone wearing a Ku Klux Klan-style hood.
The teen apologized via a statement on social media, writing that the video “displayed actions that were not meant to be taken in that way.”
“I was younger and did not think about the actions, but that’s not an excuse,” the statement read. “I wanna say sorry to all my fans and everyone who I have let down. I’ll be taking a little time off social media to better myself, but saying that, I know this has hurt and disappointed a lot of people and made people lose respect for me.”
CNN has also reached out to “American Idol” for comment.
CNN’s Amy Simonson contributed to this report.
