Official says aide’s death not related to attack
By MICHAEL ANICH, The Leader-HeraldUTICA - A pathologist has ruled the death of a longtime Tryon Residential Center youth division aide was not related to the beating he suffered at the facility July 16, an Oneida County official said Wednesday.
Charles Loftly, 60, of Utica died Tuesday after he suffered a seizure and lapsed into a coma Friday morning. His death came six weeks after a Tryon youth attacked him with a 2-by-3-foot piece of wood.
Loftly was out of work and collecting workers' compensation when he suffered a seizure Friday and was discovered unconscious by his longtime live-in girlfriend, Thelma Porter. He was rushed to St. Luke's Hospital in Utica and was later found to be brain dead. His family decided to have doctors take him off life support Tuesday.
Oneida County Coroner Gregory Mills said an autopsy was done Wednesday at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Utica.
"It was just one of these occurrences that this man suffered a stroke," Mills said.
He said the pathologist who performed the autopsy - Dr. Michael Sikirica - determined Loftly died of "natural causes" and his death was not related to the beating he took at Tryon July 16.
Randall Bell, 16, no address available, is incarcerated in the Fulton County Jail on one felony count of second-degree assault in connection with the attack on Loftly.
Fulton County District Attorney Louise K. Sira said this morning she hadn't heard the official report by Mills on the autopsy. She said she was due to meet today with state police at her office to go over the results of that medical examination.
Sira said Wednesday she was reserving action on whether to upgrade the charge against Bell pending the results of the autopsy.
Stephen Madarasz, director of communications for the Albany-based Civil Service Employees Association - Loftly's union at Tryon - said the union is "mourning the death" of the former Tryon aide.
CSEA President Danny Donohue also spoke about the death.
"Regardless of the circumstances of Charles Loftly's death, the brutal beating he suffered should never have happened," Donohue said. "The staffing situation in Office of Children & Family Services has long been a cause for concern because it has left staff and youth at risk.
"CSEA sends its deepest sympathy to the family and friends of Charles Loftly, but we also want our members and the public to know that anything short of immediate and sustained effort to bring about a better and safer environment in OCFS facilities is unacceptable."
Two top OCFS officials Wednesday said they were reserving comments for the next week or so on Loftly's death to give the family and the Tryon staff time to mourn.
OCFS Executive Deputy Commissioner William Getman said Wednesday, "We are very saddened by our co-worker, Charles."
Madarasz said longstanding conditions in OCFS facilities have worsened recently as the facility has sought to shift its orientation from a corrections-type model toward a more therapeutic, sanctuary-type approach, CSEA officials said.
