Lawyers for Cedric Lofton’s family call for criminal charges after homicide ruling
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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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Lawyers for the family of Cedric “CJ” Lofton say criminal charges are warranted after the teenager’s in-custody death was ruled a homicide Monday.
“Cedric’s death was caused by the hands of the very authorities that were obligated to protect him and make sure he was safe,” Action Injury Law Group, the Chicago-based firm representing Lofton’s family, said in a statement.
“Instead, they killed him with conscious disregard for the young life in their keeping. This is a tragedy of epic proportions.”
Lofton, who died a day before his 18th birthday in September, had been lying face-down in his cell at Wichita’s juvenile intake facility for as long as 39 minutes when staff realized he had no pulse.
“The physical evidence is overwhelming that it was a homicide,” Steven Hart, a partner with the law firm, told The Eagle on Monday evening.
Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett’s office said Monday that no decision has been reached about whether anyone involved in Lofton’s death will face criminal charges.
Lofton was shackled and handcuffed when he lost consciousness, according to the autopsy report. He was restrained after a physical altercation with corrections staff.
Hart said lawyers have reviewed footage from within the the county’s Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center. Authorities have so far refused to release the footage and denied The Eagle’s open record requests.
“There’s no doubt whatsoever that excessive force was at play here,” Hart said. “There’s no doubt that they escalated a situation that should have been deescalated.
“They were certainly manhandling him in an inappropriate way.”
In the public statement, lawyers said Lofton’s family believes criminal charges should be pursued against “the law enforcement personnel responsible for Cedric’s death.” Hart said his firm expects to file a lawsuit but has not done so yet.
“The family wants answers and we will get them,” he said. “It will likely take a lawsuit. We’re committed to filing a lawsuit against all of those who acted inappropriately here.”
Action Injury Law Group is the same firm that represents the family of Andrew Finch, the 28-year-old Wichita man who was fatally shot by police amid a swatting hoax in December 2017.
According to a Sedgwick County spokesperson, the corrections employees involved in restraining Lofton “have been placed on paid administrative leave pending results of the District Attorney’s investigation.”
The spokesperson, Nicole Gibbs, said county officials would not comment further, citing the Kansas Bureau of Investigation’s ongoing investigation into Lofton’s death. The KBI investigates all in-custody deaths in the state’s jails and prisons unless there is a clear medical or natural cause.
This story was originally published December 27, 2021 at 6:43 PM.
