The recent death of 17-year old Cedric Lofton has been ruled a homocide. A Black teen that was in the custody of Kansas Police, died from “complications of cardiopulmonary arrest” according to an autopsy report reviewed by the New York Times. At the time of his death, Lofton was forced to lay face down before being handcuffed during which he also sustained a brain injury, acute respiratory failure, and acute kidney injury.
According to chief medical examiner Dr. Timothy S. Gorrill, the manner of his death was a homicide. “In my opinion, Cedric Lofton died as a result of complications of cardiopulmonary arrest sustained after physical struggle while restrained in the prone position,” Gorrill stated.
On Sept. 24th, Lofton’s foster parents called authorities, claiming Lofton was acting “erratic and aggressive”. Lofton allegedly resisted arrest and assaulted at least one officer. He was then transferred to a juvenile center and placed in a cell around 2:45 a.m. Authorities believe at around 4:25 a.m, the teen became “agitated” and assaulted staff. There were reports of a struggle during which Lofton was placed in the prone position shortly before he lost consciousness. He was transferred to a local hospital and died two days later.
The teen’s family is now seeking criminal charges against all law enforcement that were involved in his death. Representation for Lofton’s biological parents and his older brother stated, “You have an unarmed 135-pound teenager in custody that, without cause or provocation, is killed.” He continued, “the autopsy report is significant because it shows objective evidence about what happened.”
The DA’s office is expected to determine whether to pursue criminal charges next month, but County DA Marc Bennett pointed out that just because an autopsy report claims “manner of death” as a homicide, doesn’t necessarily mean a crime occurred.
