Police officers arrested after a truck prisoner was paralyzed seek a program to expunge the charges
Five former Connecticut police officers who were arrested on charges of abusing an inmate after he was paralyzed in the back of a police cruiser applied Wednesday for a probation program that could lead to charges being expunged.
The requests added to the frustration of supporters of Richard “Randy” Cox, who criticized prosecutors for only charging the five former New Haven officers with misdemeanors — negligent cruelty to persons and reckless endangerment.
A judge in New Haven has scheduled a hearing for Nov. 1 to determine whether the former officers are eligible for accelerated rehabilitation, a program generally reserved for first-time offenders that can expunge minor criminal charges if defendants successfully complete probation.
“I pray that the judge will do the right thing, which is to hold them accountable to the fullest extent of the law and send a strong message to police officers…that there is no tolerance for this type of behavior,” Scott X. Esdaily said. , President of the Connecticut State Conference of the NAACP.
Cox, now 37, was paralyzed from the chest until June 19, 2022, when the police truck he was riding in braked hard to avoid a collision with a car, sending his head into a metal barrier. His hands were tied behind his back and the truck did not have seat belts. Cox was arrested on charges of threatening a woman with a gun, a charge that was later dismissed.
“I can’t move. I’m going to die like this. Please, please, help me,” Cox said minutes after the crash, according to police video.
Once at the police station, officers taunted Cox and accused him of being drunk and faking his injuries, according to surveillance and body-worn camera footage. Officers pulled Cox out of the truck by his feet and placed him in a cell before eventually transporting him to the hospital.
In June, Cox and the city of New Haven agreed to settle his lawsuit against the city and officers for $45 million, which Cox’s lawyers described as the largest settlement ever for a police misconduct case.
The case sparked outrage from civil rights advocates such as the NAACP, along with comparisons to the Freddie Gray case in Baltimore. It also led to reforms in the New Haven Police Department as well as a statewide seat belt requirement for prisoners.
Cox is black, while all five of the officers arrested are black or Hispanic. Gray, who was also Black, died in 2015 after suffering a spinal injury while handcuffed and handcuffed in a city police cruiser.
The five New Haven officers — Oscar Diaz, Betsy Segui, Ronald Presley, Jocelyn Lavander and Luis Rivera — have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them. Diaz was the truck driver, while Segui was a police jail supervisor.
All the officers were fired except Presley, who avoided discipline by retiring in January.
Sigi’s lawyer, Gregory Ceretelli, said Wednesday that he expected her request for rapid rehabilitation to be approved.
“These are two crimes, so I cannot believe that the judge in these circumstances would not grant her the benefit of this program,” he said, adding that “the crime is not of a serious nature.”
State prosecutors declined to comment on the requests.
