US officers charged after Black man in custody is paralysed
Randy Cox was hurt when he flew into the metal partition in a police van
Five Connecticut police officers were charged on Monday with cruelly neglecting a Black man after he was partially paralysed in the back of a police van, despite his repeated and desperate pleas for help.
Randy Cox, 36, was being driven to a New Haven police station June 19 for processing on a weapons charge when the driver braked hard at an intersection to avoid a collision, causing Cox to fly headfirst into a metal partition in the van.
“I can’t move. I’m going to die like this. Please, please, please help me,” Cox said minutes after the crash.
‘I think I cracked my neck’
As Cox pleaded for help, some of the officers at the detention centre mocked him and accused him of being drunk and faking his injuries, according to dialogue captured by surveillance and body-worn camera footage. Officers dragged Cox by his feet from the van and placed him in a holding cell before his eventual transfer to a hospital.
“I think I cracked my neck,” Cox said after the van arrived at the detention centre. Cox was later found to have a fractured neck and was paralysed.
The five New Haven police officers were charged with second-degree reckless endangerment
and cruelty, both misdemeanours. The others charged were Officer Oscar Diaz, Officer Ronald Pressley, Officer Jocelyn Lavandier and Officer Luis Rivera. All have been on administrative leave since last summer.
Messages seeking comment were sent to attorneys for the officers.
Though each officer faces the same charges, some seemed to take Cox’s pleas more seriously than others. Diaz, who drove the transport van, pulled over
after Cox complained of his injury, spoke to him and requested that an ambulance meet them at the detention centre. However, Diaz did not render medical attention to Cox as he lay face down on the floor.
The officers turned themselves in at a state police barracks Monday. Each was processed, posted a $25,000 (Dh91,827) bond and are due back in court December 8, according to a police statement.