Wichita police union challenges district attorney on details of Lofton investigation

The Wichita police union criticized Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett on Monday for his suggestion that lawyers thwarted investigators’ efforts to re-interview officers who interacted with Cedric Lofton in the hours before he was fatally restrained.

The Eagle reported last week that a Wichita officer changed multiple answers on a Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center screening form after finding out his initial responses would have required police to transport 17-year-old Lofton to a hospital.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation agent who interviewed Wichita police did not ask officers about the changed answers. He was later removed from the case after Bennett expressed concern to his supervisor, and the agent who replaced him did not re-interview police.

“I don’t believe they were allowed to be re-interviewed,” Bennett told The Eagle in a phone interview March 31. “Meaning, at that point, FOP (Fraternal Order of Police) had gotten them lawyers and that was the end of that.”

In a Monday release, FOP president David Inkelaar rebuked Bennett, saying the union did not intervene inappropriately in the criminal investigation.

“If DA Bennett was accurately quoted, we would hope he would only speak when he has all the facts and be forthright in presenting those facts,” Inkelaar said. “All the employees of the Wichita Police Department involved in the incident fully cooperated. All were represented by attorneys from the beginning and voluntarily went and spoke to the KBI during the investigation.

“At no time were the employees ever re-contacted by the KBI or the District Attorney’s office and asked to come back in for a follow-up interview. At no time did any of the employees refuse to fully cooperate with the investigation.”

In an email response Monday afternoon, Bennett said that he had no knowledge of investigators attempting to schedule follow-up interviews with the Wichita officers.

“The information I was provided was that the KBI arranged with counsel for the various WPD officers for a single interview to be conducted with each of the officers. Those interviews then took place between the 30th of September and the 19th of October of 2021,” Bennett said.

Police responded to a Sept. 24 911 call from Lofton’s foster father asking for help transporting the teen to St. Joseph hospital for a mental health screening after he had become increasingly paranoid over the previous month.

Lofton refused to go voluntarily, so police attempted to take him into protective custody to take him to the hospital. When Lofton resisted arrest, he was taken to the county corrections facility instead. Officer Ryan O’Hare then attested on the JIAC form that Lofton did not need immediate medical or mental health attention.

Bennett previously told The Eagle he did not file charges against O’Hare because he could not prove the officer intentionally lied about Lofton’s condition. Bennett also did not file charges against the five county corrections workers who fatally restrained Lofton, citing Kansas’ “stand your ground” laws.

In his email, Bennett again declined to provide more information about why the first KBI agent was removed from the Lofton case. The KBI has also refused to comment on the matter, but confirmed that the agent is still employed by the bureau.

In an email to Bennett obtained by The Eagle through an open records request, Sedgwick County Commissioner Lacey Cruse raised the specter of pro-police bias triggering the removal.

“The removal of the KBI officer who was found to have a bias towards police. Can you address what happened with this concern and why this KBI officer was removed?” Cruse wrote Bennett.

The district attorney responded without challenging the assertion of bias.

“I expressed my concern to the KBI supervisor after an initial meeting with the guy,” Bennett replied to Cruse. “Why they removed him from the case after that I can’t speculate.”

This story was originally published April 11, 2022 at 6:38 PM.