November 29, 2022
5 Connecticut Officers Charged After Black Man Paralyzed In Police Van
Officials announced charges Monday against five Connecticut police officers involved in an incident that left a Black man partially paralyzed.
According to the Associated Press, 36-year-old Randy Cox was being driven to a New Haven police station for processing on a weapons charge on Sunday, June 19. When the driver reportedly braked hard at an intersection to avoid a collision, it caused Cox to fly headfirst into a metal partition in the back of the police van.
The Associated Press reports that Cox was cruelly neglected, despite his repeated pleas for help following the injury inflicted by the driver’s reaction and the police van’s lack of seat belts.
“I can’t move. I’m going to die like this. Please, please, please help me,” Cox said minutes after the crash, according to dialogue captured by surveillance and body-worn camera footage.
Some of the New Haven officers, including Sgt. Betsy Segui, one of the five officers charged, allegedly mocked Cox at the detention center and accused him of being drunk and faking his injuries. The other four officers involved included Officer Oscar Diaz, Officer Ronald Pressley, Officer Jocelyn Lavandier, and Officer Luis Rivera. All the involved officers were charged with second-degree reckless endangerment and cruelty, both misdemeanors, and have been on administrative leave since last summer.
Cox was reportedly dragged by his feet from the van by officers and placed in a holding cell prior to his eventual transfer to a hospital. It was later discovered that Cox had suffered a fractured neck and was paralyzed.
In September, lawyers for Cox filed a $100 million lawsuit against the city of New Haven. The case drew outrage from civil rights advocates like the NAACP and civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who previously spoke out against the incident.
“If we say we respect life and respect Randy Cox’s life experiences and people like Randy Cox, similarly situated, then we have to show that by action, not just by rhetoric,” Crump stated to the Associated Press. “Not just say we care about Black lives, but we have an actual duty in New Haven and throughout America to show that we believe Black lives matter.”