Authorities discuss preliminary autopsy, events leading up to teen’s in-custody death
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Death of Wichita teen at Sedgwick County facility
Cedric Lofton’s foster father called authorities in September 2021 seeking help because the 17-year-old was hallucinating and needed to go to a mental health facility. Instead, police took him to the Sedgwick County Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center, where he had to be resuscitated after he was held facedown for more than 30 minutes during an altercation. He died two days later.
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Authorities said Thursday that a Wichita teenager who died two days after being restrained by local police and juvenile detention facility staff had no apparent life-threatening physical injuries that immediately point to a cause of death — only some scratches and a bruise.
But the 17-year-old, Cedric “CJ” Lofton, may have used illegal narcotics — specifically a synthetic form of marijuana known as K-2 — sometime before his foster father called 911 early on Sept. 24 to report that Lofton was experiencing mental distress, Sedgwick County Sheriff Jeff Easter said during a Thursday news conference meant to update the public on the death investigation. Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett also spoke at the briefing.
It could be weeks before authorities know exactly how Lofton died. So far, the preliminary autopsy results for the teen have provided few clues.
A toxicology screening, which can reveal the presence of drugs in a person’s system at the time of death, will be performed in the teen’s case. But those screenings generally take weeks to complete, so results are not expected for some time.
Easter and Bennett on Thursday asked for the public to “remain patient” as the investigation progresses.
News of Lofton’s death and authorities’ use of restraints to subdue him on Sept. 24 have prompted public outcry and a demand for the immediate release of video showing the teen’s treatment. To date, police body camera footage, video from inside the juvenile center and 911 call records requested by The Eagle have not been released.
“This is absolutely a tragic case. I want to assure the public that we will be thoroughly investigating it,” Easter said, adding: “We won’t leave any stone unturned, trying to find out exactly what happened.”
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation, which is leading the investigation into Lofton’s death with help from the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office, should have its preliminary report detailing its findings completed in a week or two, Easter said.
The teen’s preliminary autopsy report, however, had “not identified any life-threatening injuries” and that his cause of death “is considered to be undetermined at this point,” Easter said. The autopsy was performed Monday.
Asked whether there was any evidence that the restraints used by police to take the teen to the detention center or later by center staff to help control him played a role in the death, Bennett said only that “the lack of obvious signs of injury, fatal injuries, means this is going to take more of an investigation.”
“When there’s a gunshot wound, when there’s a stab wound — things like that — these are fairly quick turnarounds,” he said. “But when there are no obvious signs of trauma, it means that more investigation needs to take place.”
An informational sheet provided by the county about operations at the Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center says use of force against youth there is rare. According to the sheet, staff has used mechanical restraints — handcuffs or leg restraints — on youth only twice since January 2020. The center averages 1,850 intakes of children ages 10 to 17 a year.
The sheet also says no child had been injured in the facility, and that center staff “shall use force only when all other less restrictive methods of behavior control have been attempted and failed, to protect the youth from injury, to prevent injury to others or to prevent escape.”
The Wichita Police Department’s policy on use of WRAP restraints says they “will only be applied for only the amount of time absolutely necessary” and in instances where “it appears less restrictive alternatives would be ineffective in controlling the disorderly behavior.”
Neither the county nor police have said publicly exactly how long Lofton was restrained.
Sheriff gives more detailed timeline
Easter on Thursday also provided a more detailed timeline of events the morning Lofton became unresponsive while in the custody of the county’s Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center, 700 S. Hydraulic. According to the Sept. 24 timeline:
1:07 a.m.: Wichita police officers are dispatched to the home of Lofton’s foster father after the father called 911 to get help because Lofton was reportedly in the throes of a “mental breakdown” including acting paranoid and believing “there were people out to kill him.” Lofton reportedly had similar episodes previously.
1:13 a.m.: Wichita police officers arrive at the home, in the 1200 block of South Fox Run, and began interacting with Lofton and his foster father.
2:15 a.m.: Wichita police officers put out an “officer in trouble call” that ends about eight minutes later.
2:32 a.m.: Wichita police take Lofton to the Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center. The teen is restrained at this time with a department-approved WRAP restraint and handcuffs, authorities have said previously.
2:44 a.m.: Wichita police officers arrive at the center with Lofton. Lofton is booked into the facility on suspicion of four counts of battering a law enforcement officer over his interactions with police at his foster father’s home.
4:16 a.m.: Wichita police clear the call and subsequently leave the Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center. By this time, Lofton had already been taken out of the WRAP restraints and was “upright and communicating,” a Wichita police spokesman said earlier this week. Lofton is in the sole care of the juvenile center at this point.
4:57 a.m.: Staff at the center call 911, asking for Wichita police to return to the facility to take Lofton to the hospital over “more mental issues” and fighting center staff. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation has said Lofton had been placed in a single holding cell but was let out to use the bathroom and allegedly assaulted staff who tried to escort him back to his cell. Center staff engaged in a “lengthy physical struggle” with Lofton “to get him into the holding cell and place him into handcuffs,” the KBI has said. Staff later notice the teen is conscious and unresponsive.
5:02 a.m.: 911 dispatch puts the center’s emergency call on hold and a Wichita police supervisor calls the center.
5:11 a.m.: Wichita police are dispatched to the Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center.
5:18 a.m.: Staff at the Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center begin performing CPR on Lofton. Wichita police arrive at the center a minute later.
5:24 a.m.: Emergency Medical Services staff arrives. They continue life-saving measures and detect the teen’s pulse.
5:53 a.m.: EMS takes Lofton to Wesley Medical Center by ambulance.
Easter said Thursday that he doesn’t think Lofton ever regained consciousness at the hospital before his death was pronounced at 1:55 am. Sunday.
Lofton had been living with a foster family in Wichita after becoming the subject of a Child in Need of Care case in Junction City in 2019, Easter said. Minor drug use, minor criminal activity and a failure to follow mental health recommendations contributed to Lofton being placed in state custody, he said.
This story was originally published September 30, 2021 at 2:13 PM.
