5 officers charged after Black man paralyzed in police van

As many as 5 law enforcement officials have been charged for neglecting a Black man after he was partially paralyzed at the back of a police van.

Civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump takes half in a march for Justice for Richard “Randy” Cox from the Stetson Library to the New Haven Police Department. (Photo: AP)

By Associated Press: Five Connecticut law enforcement officials have been charged Monday with cruelly neglecting a Black man after he was partially paralyzed at the back of a police van, regardless of his repeated and determined pleas for assist.

Randy Cox, 36, was being pushed to a New Haven police station June 19 for processing on a weapons cost when the motive force braked onerous at an intersection to keep away from a collision, inflicting Cox to fly headfirst right into a steel partition within the van.

“I can’t move. I’m going to die like this. Please, please, please help me,” Cox mentioned minutes after the crash.

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As Cox pleaded for assist, a number of the officers on the detention middle mocked him and accused him of being drunk and faking his accidents, in line with dialogue captured by surveillance and body-worn digital camera footage. Officers dragged Cox by his toes from the van and positioned him in a holding cell previous to his eventual switch to a hospital.

“I think I cracked my neck,” Cox mentioned after the van arrived on the detention middle.

“You didn’t crack it, no, you drank too much … Sit up,” mentioned Sgt. Betsy Segui, one of many 5 officers charged.

Cox was later discovered to have a fractured neck and was paralyzed.

The 5 New Haven law enforcement officials have been charged with second-degree reckless endangerment and cruelty, each misdemeanors. The others charged have been Officer Oscar Diaz, Officer Ronald Pressley, Officer Jocelyn Lavandier and Officer Luis Rivera. All have been on administrative depart since final summer season.

Messages searching for remark have been despatched to attorneys for the officers.

Though every officer faces the identical prices, some appeared to take Cox’s pleas extra severely than others. Diaz, who drove the transport van, pulled over after Cox complained of his harm, spoke to him and requested that an ambulance meet them on the detention middle. However, Diaz didn’t render medical consideration to Cox as he lay face down on the ground.

The officers turned themselves in at a state police barracks Monday. Each was processed, posted a $25,000 bond and are due again in courtroom Dec. 8, in line with a information launch from state police.

New Haven’s police chief, talking to reporters Monday together with the town’s mayor, mentioned it was necessary for the division to be clear and accountable.

“You can make mistakes, but you can’t treat people poorly, period. You cannot treat people the way Mr. Cox was treated,” mentioned Police Chief Karl Jacobson.

The case has drawn outrage from civil rights advocates just like the NAACP, together with comparisons to the Freddie Gray case in Baltimore. Gray, who was additionally Black, died in 2015 after he suffered a spinal harm whereas handcuffed and shackled in a metropolis police van.

An lawyer for Cox’s household, Ben Crump, mentioned Monday that the New Haven officers should be held accountable.

“It is important — when you see that video of how they treated Randy Cox and the actions and inactions that led to him being paralyzed from his chest down — that those police officers should be held to the full extent of the law,” Crump mentioned.

Cox was arrested June 19 after police mentioned they discovered him in possession of a handgun at a block occasion. The prices towards him have been later dropped.

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Cox’s household filed a federal lawsuit towards the town of New Haven and the 5 officers in September. The lawsuit alleges negligence, exceeding the pace restrict and failure to have correct restraints within the police van.

Four of the officers filed motions final week claiming certified immunity from the lawsuit, arguing that their actions within the case didn’t violate any “clearly established” authorized normal.

New Haven officers introduced a collection of police reforms this summer season stemming from the case, together with eliminating using police vans for many prisoner transports and utilizing marked police automobiles as a substitute. They additionally require officers to instantly name for an ambulance to reply to their location if the prisoner requests or seems to wish medical help.

Published On:

Nov 29, 2022