Lofton task force considers penning letter to DOJ asking for federal investigation
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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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A task force assembled by local government to review Cedric Lofton’s death is considering drafting a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice asking them to conduct their own investigation into the teen’s in-custody death.
Multiple members voiced their support for such a letter after it was proposed by Lamont Anderson, a representative for Community Operations Recovery Empowerment (CORE), at Thursday’s inaugural meeting of the task force.
No one voiced opposition to the letter. The task force agreed to revisit the issue on Monday. Steve House, a juvenile defense attorney, was asked to begin drafting a potential request.
“I think if we make all of our policy recommendations but there’s no criminal charges for those responsible, it means that this could still happen again,” said Jazmine Rogers, a representative from the juvenile justice reform organization Progeny.
“Sending a letter to the DOJ to encourage them to bring forth whatever charges or open a new investigation would be very important to getting justice for CJ specifically.”
The task force, which is expected to recommend policy changes in three months, agreed to hold weekly open meetings starting Monday. Meetings will also be virtually stream on a platform yet to be announced.
The advisory group, which can take no binding action on behalf of Sedgwick County or the city of Wichita, includes representatives from COMCARE, Wichita public schools, and racial justice organizations.
The task force did not settle on an approach for receiving community input Thursday. Two ideas put forward were a meeting solely focused on public comment and an email or phone contact for members of the public to provide feedback.
Lofton, a Black 17-year-old, died after being restrained for almost 45 minutes by county juvenile corrections officers last September. His foster father had called 911 looking for help to take Lofton in for a mental health evaluation.
At the outset of the meeting, County Commissioner Sarah Lopez asked task force members to take a comprehensive look at the systems that failed to protect Lofton.
“I want you to look at where the system failed at every level, and then take that into a broader conversation on how we can make sure nothing like that happens again to anybody in the future,” Lopez said.
Marquetta Atkins, a task force member representing Destination Innovation, said that even though the task force is “speaking to the future,” Lofton’s life and death must not be minimized.
“So while we’re working to make sure this does not happen to another child, we’re not going to forget that nobody was held accountable for the murder of this child and that we held a child accountable for his own death,” Atkins said.
Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett announced last month that none of the county employees who restrained Lofton would face criminal charges because under state law, they were defending themselves against the teen.
City Council Member Brandon Johnson, who co-founded CORE, also spoke briefly at the beginning of the meeting. He and Lopez then left, saying they didn’t want their presence to affect the task force’s work.
Meetings will be run by LaShonda Garnes of LG Consulting, and Vera Bothner and Tami Bradley, of the communications and consulting firm Bothner & Bradley.
“You are in charge,” Bothner told task force members. “We are here to facilitate giving you all of the information that you want and facilitate you hearing from whoever you want to achieve your purpose.”
Sedgwick County Manager Tom Stolz said last week that the task force won’t have access to personnel records, subpoena power or the authority to interview the government employees involved in the foster teen’s death.
Rogers, the Progeny representative, pushed back on the idea that the task force can thoroughly review the circumstances of Lofton’s death without access to such records, including the disciplinary history of the juvenile corrections staff involved.
“I just want to know if we’ll have access to the staff involved, what their reports or what their history is like, because I think that will help us give a better picture of what the history of trauma inside this facility may be,” Rogers said.
Sedgwick County Sheriff Jeff Easter sat in the audience at Thursday’s meeting. Wichita Police spokesperson Paul Cruz, who is listed as a support member of the task force, did not attend.
Police have so far refused to respond to questions about their interactions with Lofton on the night they chose to take him to the county-run juvenile intake facility instead of to a hospital.
This story was originally published February 3, 2022 at 6:02 PM.
