Judge dismisses charges against 3 officers accused of mistreating paralyzed prisoner

A Connecticut judge on Friday dismissed criminal charges against three current and former New Haven police officers who were accused of mistreating prisoner Richard “Randy” Cox after he was paralyzed in the back of a police van in 2022.

Judge David Zagaja dropped charges against Oscar Diaz, Jocelyn Lavandier and Luis Rivera after granting them a probation program that allows charges to be expunged from defendants’ records, saying their conduct was not malicious. Two other officers, Betsy Segui and Ronald Pressley, pleaded guilty last year to misdemeanor reckless endangerment and received no prison time.

Cox, 40, was left paralyzed from the chest down on June 19, 2022, when the police van, which did not have a seat belt, braked suddenly to avoid a crash, sending him head-first into a metal partition while his hands were handcuffed behind his back. He was arrested for threatening a woman with a gun, charges which were later dismissed.

“I can’t move. I’m going to die like this. Please, please help me,” Cox said in the van minutes after he was injured, according to police video. It was later discovered that he had broken his neck.

Diaz, who was driving the van, brought Cox to the police department, where officers mocked Cox and accused him of being drunk and faking his injuries, according to surveillance and body-worn camera footage. Officers dragged Cox out of the van and around the police station before placing him in a holding cell before paramedics took him to the hospital.

Before removing him from the van, Lavandier told Cox to move his leg and sit down, according to an internal affairs investigative report. Cox says “I can’t move” and Lavender says “You’re not even trying.”

New Haven State’s Attorney John P. Doyle Jr.’s office said prosecutors and Cox did not object to the dismissal of the charges.

Defense attorneys said that while the officers were sympathetic to what happened to Cox, they did not cause or aggravate his injuries. The three police officers whose cases were dismissed were scheduled to go to trial next month.

“We do not believe there was sufficient evidence to prove his guilt or any wrongdoing,” said Lavandier’s attorney, Dan Ford. “This is a negotiated settlement that avoids the risk of having to endure the emotional burden of a trial.”

Rivera’s attorney, Raymond Hassett, called the decision to charge the officers “unjust and inappropriate.”

“The actions of the police chief and the city mayor in targeting police officers were a misguided attempt to distract from the police department’s shortcomings in managing the department and ensuring that proper protocols were in place and followed,” Hassett said in a statement.

Attorneys for Cox and Diaz did not immediately respond to phone and email messages Friday. Cox’s attorney, Louis Rubano, said Cox and his family hope the criminal cases will end quickly in plea negotiations.

New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said city officials disagreed with the judge’s decision to dismiss the charges.

“What happened to Randy was tragic and horrible,” he said in a statement.

The case sparked outrage from civil rights advocates, including the NAACP, as well as comparisons to the Freddie Gray case in Baltimore. Cox is black, while all five officers arrested are black or Hispanic. Gray, who was also black, died in 2015 after suffering a spinal injury while handcuffed and shackled in a Baltimore police van.

The case also led to reforms within the New Haven Police Department as well as a statewide requirement for seat belts for prisoners.

In 2023, the city of New Haven agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by Cox for $45 million.

New Haven police fired Segui, Diaz, Lavandier and Rivera for violating police conduct policies, while Pressley retired and avoided an internal investigation. Diaz appealed his termination and got his job back. Segui lost his appeal of his dismissal, while Lavandier and Rivera’s appeals remain pending.