Close
KTAR.com
News
Shows
Blogs
KTAR News on 92.3FM

`From crisis to death’: Probing teen’s last, desperate hours

In this image from body camera video provided by Sedgwick County, staff members perform CPR on Cedric “C.J.” Lofton, 17, in Wichita, Kan., on Sept. 24, 2021. The final autopsy, released in December, listed C.J.'s cause of death as “complications of cardiopulmonary arrest sustained after physical struggle while restrained in the prone position.” The death was declared a homicide. (Sedgwick County via AP) In this image from surveillance video provided by Sedgwick County, staff members restrain Cedric “C.J.” Lofton, 17, at the Sedgwick County Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center in Wichita, Kan., on Sept. 24, 2021. The final autopsy, released in December, listed C.J.'s cause of death as “complications of cardiopulmonary arrest sustained after physical struggle while restrained in the prone position.” The death was declared a homicide. (Sedgwick County via AP) In this image from body camera video provided by Sedgwick County, police grasp Cedric “C.J.” Lofton, 17, on the porch of his home in Wichita, Kan., on Sept. 24, 2021. Friends said C.J. planned to remain in foster care until he finished high school. But he was growing restless as he prepared to age out of the system. (Sedgwick County via AP) In this image from body camera video provided by Sedgwick County, Cedric “C.J.” Lofton, 17, growls and bites at police outside his home in Wichita, Kan., on Sept. 24, 2021. His foster father said when Cedric returned from the funeral of his grandmother in September, “it got progressively worse,” according to a prosecutor’s report. He described him as “paranoid.” (Sedgwick County via AP) This April 21, 2019, photo provided by Sarah Harrison shows Cedric “C.J.” Lofton of Wichita, Kan., who died at a Kansas juvenile center in September 2021. Friends who met C.J. in foster care described him as a goofball, fun loving, with a dark childhood that he hinted at but never talked about much. (Courtesy Sarah Harrison via AP) In this image from body camera video provided by Sedgwick County, police put Cedric “C.J.” Lofton, 17, into a body-length restraining device called a WRAP outside his home in Wichita, Kan., on Sept. 24, 2021. His foster father, unable to deal with a teen who seemed to be in the throes of schizophrenia, had called Wichita police. When they arrived, Cedric refused to leave the porch and go with them; he was obstinate but afraid, meek but frantic. (Sedgwick County via AP)