TOPEKA, Kan.: A Black youth’s death following a physical struggle with staff at a Kansas juvenile center was a homicide, according to an autopsy report released Monday that contradicts an earlier, preliminary finding that the teenager hadn’t suffered life-threatening injuries.
The report said that 17-year-old Cedric Lofton’s heart and breathing stopped after he was handcuffed while lying on his stomach. Lofton had briefly been in the custody of the Sedgwick County Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center in Wichita when his altercation with staff members occurred Sept. 24. He was taken to a local hospital and died two days later.
The staff members involved in the struggle have not been identified, but they county said they are on paid administrative leave. Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett issued a statement saying his office is reviewing the autopsy report, along with a lengthy investigation by the local sheriff’s office and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.
In my opinion, Cedric Lofton died as a result of complications from cardiopulmonary arrest sustained after physical struggle while restrained in the prone position, Chief Medical Examiner Timothy Gorrill wrote in the report. The manner of death is homicide.
The autopsy also said that juvenile center employees were unable to locate a pulse four minutes after they handcuffed Lofton.
Gorrill wrote that Lofton’s subsequent treatment at a local hospital was complicated by brain injuries caused by a lack of oxygen, as well as respiratory failure and acute kidney injury. Lofton also tested positive for COVID-19.
The report also said that a screening of Lofton’s urine resulted in a presumptive positive for chemicals found in marijuana. The report was dated Dec. 21.
The county issued a statement saying that its officials could not comment because of the active investigation. Sheriff Jeff Easter said during a Sept. 30 news conference four days after Lofton’s death that preliminary autopsy results showed only scratches and a bruise on Lofton and not life-threatening injuries.
The autopsy cited reports from authorities that Lofton ran away from a foster home on Sept. 21, then was erratic and aggressive toward his foster parents when he returned early Sept. 24. The KBI has said that Wichita police, responding to a call of a disturbance, encountered Lofton outside a house and tried to get him to seek mental health treatment.
He resisted by assaulting one or more of the officers, according the autopsy and was taken to the juvenile center. The autopsy report said that staff at the center let him out of his cell at 4:20 a.m. to use the restroom, according to the KBI. Lofton was uncooperative and agitated” and punched a staff member in the head, according to the autopsy, leading to the struggle with multiple staff members.
Lofton’s ankles were shackled and he was moved to the floor and rolled onto his stomach. He continued to struggle before being handcuffed. The autopsy said Lofton then calmed down, making occasional snoring sounds. A minute after being unable to find a pulse, staff began chest compressions and called emergency personnel, just before 5:15 a.m.
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