Five New Haven police officers plead not guilty in Randy Cox case

The five New Haven Police Department officers who are charged in connection with an incident that left Richard “Randy” Cox paralyzed last June appeared in court on Wednesday and pleaded not guilty, court officials said.

Officers Oscar Diaz, Ronald Pressley, Jocelyn Lavandier and Luis Rivera and Sgt. Betsy Segui all appeared in court in New Haven on Wednesday morning and each pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor second-degree reckless endangerment and cruelty to person, according to state police and court records.

Cox was paralyzed on June 19, 2022, after he was arrested at a Juneteenth party on Lilac Street in New Haven, allegedly carrying a gun, records show.

He was being driven to the police lockup in a transport van. He was handcuffed but otherwise unrestrained in the van when Diaz hit the brakes and Cox was thrown head-first into the front of the rear compartment, records show.

Diaz and Segui drove to the lockup without waiting for an ambulance, allegedly violating department policy.

Cox was paralyzed from the neck down following the incident. On Wednesday, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is part of Cox’s legal team, issued a statement saying Cox is now paralyzed from the chest down. His family said recently that his condition has remained mostly unchanged in the months since the incident, which was captured on video.

“It is absolutely shameful that these officers fail to see how their actions led to the trauma and severe injury that caused Randy Cox to be paralyzed from the chest down,” Crump said in the statement. “Since these five officers failed to take accountability for their actions, they will now have to face a trial, where the prosecution will present the significant evidence against their claims of no guilt. We are confident that will show just how little humanity Randy was shown and how that contributed to his lifelong, catastrophic injuries.”

The five officers turned themselves in to state police Troop F in Westbrook on criminal charges in late November, records show. Each posted a $25,000 bond. Virtual pre-trial hearings are scheduled for February.

New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson was conducting an internal affairs investigation following the officers’ arrests to determine how they would be disciplined.

Lawyers for Cox in September filed a $100 million lawsuit against the city of New Haven and the five police officers in U.S. District Court.

“I think we’ve been clear all along that we want to find a pathway to settle here,” New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said, according to WTNH. “The first step in this process is for us to have this mediation that we all agree to. It’s going to occur virtually on February 9.”

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