Juvenile Jail Cops in KS Shackled a Handcuffed Black Teen’s Ankles and then Held Him Prone, Assaulted and Killed Him. Arrested for Refusal to Consent to Detention after Foster Fam Called Cops for Eval

From [HERE] A 17-year-old Black boy who died in police custody after being restrained at a juvenile jail in Kansas died by homicide, according to a Sedgwick County autopsy report.

Cedric Lofton, a Black teenager, was taken into custody on Sept. 24 after his foster father called 911 to say his son was having a mental breakdown and needed an evaluation.

When Lofton refused to go voluntarily, he was arrested for battering a law enforcement officer and taken, restrained, to the Sedgwick County juvenile detention facility.

After staff members decided he was too uncooperative after he allegedly punched an employee, Lofton was shackled at the ankles, rolled into a prone position and handcuffed behind his back, according to the autopsy, released Monday.

Minutes after he was handcuffed, Lofton no longer had a pulse and staff began chest compressions.

He died two days later.

The coroner ruled his death from “complications of cardiopulmonary arrest sustained after physical struggle while restrained in the prone position” and labeled it a homicide.

“As supported by the video evidence, these individuals unjustifiably and with excessive and unreasonable force pinned Cedric to the ground, ultimately killing the unarmed, 135-pound, 17-year-old African American teenager,” a lawyer for Lofton’s family said in a statement to the Daily News Tuesday.

“Cedric’s family anxiously awaits the findings of the criminal investigation and believes the Sedgwick County District Attorney should pursue criminal charges against the law enforcement personnel responsible for Cedric’s death. Cedric’s death was caused by the hands of the very authorities that were obligated to protect him and make sure he was safe. Instead, they killed him with conscious disregard for the young life in their keeping.”

Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett told The News Tuesday that his office is “in the process of reviewing the autopsy completed by the Sedgwick County Regional Forensic Science Center as well as the lengthy investigation conducted by agents with the Kansas Bureau of Investigations and investigators with the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Department.”