Cedric Lofton, 17, was handcuffed and placed face down at a detention center in Wichita, Kan., last year. The district attorney says the employees were acting in self-defense.
No criminal charges will be filed in the death of Cedric Lofton, a 17-year-old who lost consciousness after he was handcuffed and placed face down in a juvenile detention center in Wichita, Kan., the local district attorney said on Tuesday.
The state’s “stand your ground” law prevents his office from filing criminal charges in the case, Marc Bennett, the Sedgwick County district attorney, wrote in a report.
The employees of the center “acted in self-defense under Kansas law,” Mr. Bennett wrote, explaining that the law makes them “immune from prosecution” in this case.
He added: “This is not a reflection of this office’s approval of what happened to Cedric Lofton on September 24, 2021. This should never have happened.”
Mr. Lofton was arrested on Sept. 24 when the police were called to a house in Wichita after he began “exhibiting erratic and aggressive behavior” toward his foster family, according to an autopsy report from the Sedgwick County Regional Forensic Science Center.
The police took Mr. Lofton to a county juvenile center, where he fought with correctional staff members, who placed shackles on his ankles, rolled him onto his abdomen and handcuffed his wrists behind his back, the report said. He appeared to calm down and made “snoring sounds,” but when staff members checked for a pulse four...
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