The death of a Black teenager at a Kansas juvenile detention center was foreshadowed five years earlier by a state inspection of the facility that noted systemic deficiencies in its handling of children with mental health issues, according to a federal civil rights lawsuit filed Monday.
Cedric Lofton’s foster father called authorities in September 2021 seeking help because the 17-year-old was hallucinating and needed to go to a mental health facility. Instead, police forcibly took him to the Sedgwick County Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center, where he had to be resuscitated after he was held facedown for more than 30 minutes during an altercation. He died two days later.
