Howell joins Cruse in call for outside investigation of teen Cedric Lofton’s death

Sedgwick County Commissioner Jim Howell has joined Commissioner Lacey Cruse in a call for an outside investigation of the death of Cedric Lofton.

The other three commissioners have signaled they will wait for a joint city-county task force to complete a review of the circumstances surrounding the Black teen’s death in custody before calling for further action.

“I do support an outside, independent investigation,” Howell, a Republican, said at Wednesday’s commission meeting. “I want to make sure, however, that whatever that process is, they have access to the right data, the evidence must be available to them, witness testimony — they have to be able to put people under oath to ask them questions.”

Last week, Cruse, a Democrat, called for an outside investigation parallel to the work of the city-county joint task force that has been impaneled to review the case and make policy recommendations. She said an outside auditing firm, legal team or the U.S. Department of Justice should review the systematic failures that led to Lofton’s death.

Lofton, a 17-year-old foster child who died after being restrained face down by four county employees at the county’s Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center in September, was reportedly having a mental health crisis when Wichita police took him to the facility. The county medical examiner determined Lofton’s death was a homicide, but Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett announced last month that he would not bring criminal charges in the case, saying the county employees are immune from prosecution under the state’s “stand your ground” law.

The outside investigation would come from the U.S. Department of Justice and/or a citizen grand jury, Howell said. Kansas law allows residents to summon a grand jury by petition.

A citizen grand jury petition requires signatures of 100 electors plus 2% of the number of ballots cast in Sedgwick County in the latest gubernatorial election. The petition would require at least 3,461 valid signatures.

Bipartisan support for outside investigation

Howell and Cruse, who often disagree on county issues, have been the leading voices calling for change in the aftermath of Bennett’s decision not to bring charges.

Howell testified to the Legislature last week seeking changes to state law that would ban the use of wrap restraints on juveniles and the use of lengthy restraints in the prone position.

Cruse on Wednesday said she’s looking for an investigation similar to the one done by an outside auditor on Sedgwick County EMS last summer. The audit was performed by local attorneys and included interviews with EMS employees and county management. Its findings have not been released to the public.

Cruse’s call for an outside investigation led to a lengthy and heated exchange with County Counselor Mike Pepoon. Each accused the other of misrepresenting a phone conversation they had last Thursday.

Cruse asked Pepoon to repeat what he told her on the phone on Thursday about the county’s authority to order an outside investigation. Pepoon said the county commission has “little recourse beyond” the criminal investigation that has already finished and a potential investigation by federal agencies.

“I’m sorry,” Cruse said. “Let me interrupt you for a second. So the call that we had last Thursday, when I specifically asked you that question, I did not get this answer. I did not get this answer, so changing it now is troubling.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Commissioner,” Pepoon responded. “What did I say on that phone call that differs from what I’m saying today?”

Cruse said Pepoon had told her an outside investigation could be ordered by the county, similar to the EMS investigation. Pepoon said the county could order the investigation, but it wouldn’t make sense because the outside attorneys would not have subpoena power or expertise in the juvenile justice system.

“It makes no sense for me to go out and hire private counsel to do the kind of investigation that you’re wanting to do,” Pepoon said. “You’ve never even clearly articulated what kind of investigation you want.”

To that, Cruse said the county has several available avenues to pursue an outside investigation, whether it’s the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a national nonprofit that specializes in child welfare issues, or some other group of experts to do a full system review.

Howell, who pressed for an audit of EMS, said Lofton’s death should be treated differently.

“If we went out and hired somebody, let’s say a law firm in this community, like we did with our EMS organization, they don’t have the authority to put someone under oath,” Howell said. “So just hiring someone who’s a third party doesn’t necessarily check that box. They have to have authority, they have to have the ability to get the right documentation and the right evidence, training records, employment records, everything that must be reviewed. The only people that can do that, as far as I know, probably is the DOJ. And we can’t control whether they choose to take this case or not.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office and FBI have received a formal request for a DOJ civil rights investigation, Pepoon said.

“The reality is there’s a lot of blame to go around,” Howell said.

DOJ complaint

Maurice Evans, a spokesperson for Lofton’s family, told the commission that his organization, Community Empowerment and Resilience Coalition, filed a formal complaint with the DOJ on Wednesday.

A majority of commissioners on Wednesday said they would support a federal investigation.

Commissioner Sarah Lopez, who said last week that any outside investigation ordered by the county could potentially “muddy the waters,” said Wednesday that she would be supportive of a DOJ investigation. She stopped short of outright calling for a federal investigation.

“If the DOJ gets involved, I would be nothing but supportive,” Lopez said.

The complaint submitted to the DOJ’s civil rights division, a copy of which The Eagle obtained from Evans, outlines the potential basis for an investigation based on race, disability or age.

It says Lofton was “unreasonably detained with handcuffs, forcibly placed in the WRAP restraint system (called “torturous” in other states), and taken to the Juvenile Intake Assessment Center (“JIAC”). There he was beaten, held in the prone position, with his hands cuffed behind his back, his feet shackled, and was killed because he was suffocated with four people on top of him for almost 45 minutes.”

Evans, in the complaint, included a link to an edited video of Lofton’s restraint inside the JIAC facility.

“In a tragic case of Police Misconduct in America’s Heartland, Wichita, KS, Lofton, a 17-year-old student and foster child was killed while in custody at the Sedgwick County Juvenile Intake Center,” the complaint says.

This story was originally published February 2, 2022 at 1:03 PM.