Cox lawyer: New Haven police arrests on misdemeanor charges ‘a slap in the face’
NEW HAVEN — Richard “Randy” Cox Jr.’s family took Monday’s arrest of five city police officers involved in the June 19 incident that resulted in Cox being paralyzed while in police custody as “a slap in the face,” given that they were charged with misdemeanors while Cox faces “a life sentence,” his lawyer, Ben Crump, said Tuesday.
“It’s not really fair they (the officers) are getting a slap on the wrist ... where they’ll probably receive no jail time — and Randy Cox has a life sentence” due to his injuries, “when Randy Cox didn’t do anything,” said Crump, a nationallyknown, high-profile civil rights lawyer who flew in for a press conference in front of City Hall.
He was flanked by Cox’s mother, two sisters and other family members, along with several other members of Cox’s legal team and Connecticut NAACP President Scot X. Esdaile.
Mayor Justin Elicker and Chief of Police Karl Jacobson both attended the news conference and responded afterward.
“What did Randy Cox do to cause any of this?” asked Crump, who began the press conference holding the hand of Cox’s mother, Doreen Coleman. Coleman held a handmade sign with her son’s photograph, which read, “Justice for Randy Cox.”
“Her son is paralyzed! Why is that?” Crump asked. “It’s because there’s a system that doesn’t value Black people.”
“If the officers “were regular citizens and ... you had a driver and they were driving recklessly and they caused someone to be paralyzed, they would be charged with assault with a vehicle ... a felony,” Crump said. “...If it were you or I, we would be looking at felony charges ... but these police officers aren’t looking
at any of that.”
Instead, they face misdemeanors, which “the prosecutor said is the most harsh, the stiffest penalty,” Crump said. Cox originally was going to be “charged with a felony and the officers who caused him to be paralyzed are being charged with misdemeanors,” he said.
The five officers involved, all of whom remain on paid administrative leave, as they have been since the incident, are Officer Oscar Diaz, Sgt. Betsy Segui, Officer Ronald Pressley, Officer Jocelyn Lavandier and Officer Luis Rivera.
All five were served with warrants Monday morning when they arrived at work, said Jacobson.
Cox was arrested June 19 — Juneteenth — after police said they found him in possession of a handgun at a block party on Lilac Street. The charges later were dropped. After his arrest, city officials said Cox was unsecured when he was brought to the detention facility in a police van.
Diaz, the officer driving the van, allegedly stopped suddenly to avoid a crash, police said, causing Cox to be thrown with his hands
cuffed behind his back. Videos show him crying for help, saying he was unable to move.
Videos show Cox did not receive immediate help when he arrived at police headquarters where officers removed him from the van and brought him to a cell in a wheelchair.
Cox’s family is suing New Haven for $100 million. The lawsuit, filed in September in U.S. District Court, alleges the officers involved used excessive force during the incident, assaulted Cox, inappropriately denied him medical care and inflicted emotional distress.
Cox suffered a spinal injury during the incident and was permanently paralyzed below the neck, according to the lawsuit.
Crump also said Cox’s family and legal team “were shocked when the press reported” last week that in pleadings last week in a civil case, the city and most of the officers alleged that Cox ‘was responsible for his own injuries,” Crump said.
Speaking directly to Elicker, he said, “I know you don’t believe that. Why make all of them doubt your word?”