A handcuffed suspect, who was being transported in a police van without seatbelts, was left with a broken neck and paralyzed after being slammed against the partition in the back when the vehicle came to a sudden stop.
The 36-year-old suspect, Richard Cox, who was arrested on June 19, for possession of an illegal firearm, was being transported to the New Haven Police Department when the tragedy occurred.
Cox, who wasn’t wearing seatbelts, was tossed head first into the wall when the van stop abruptly.
The horrifying moments were captured by a surveillance camera inside the van.
This video is HORRIFIC! Randy Cox was put in a police van without seatbelts and, after an abrupt stop, was thrown into the wall HEAD FIRST. We literally witness his neck break! As he was STILL lying on the van floor, he told the officers that he couldn’t move. What did they do? pic.twitter.com/L9izx7vmDt
— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) June 28, 2022
The footage shows Cox lying on the floor and weakly crying for 'help' until the officers pulled over to check on him.
"What happened ?," Officer Oscar Diaz asked Cox as he attempted to tell the officer several times that he was unable to move.
Diaz then called an ambulance. But instead of waiting there for medical attention, he proceeded to drive to the detention center to meet them.
Once at the facility, multiple officers responded to the scene and ordered Cox to get up and leave the van, despite Cox insisting he couldn't move.
The officers then proceeded to drag him out of the back of the van.
"Sit up," an officer repeatedly told Cox as he was placed and slumped over in a wheelchair with his head sagging to the far side of his shoulder.
The officers then proceeded to take Cox inside the station before dragging him on the floor of a cell and handcuffing his feet together.
Officers accused him of consuming drugs and alcohol and claimed that’s why he was behaving the way he was.
"He is perfectly fine." an officer can be heard saying in the video.
Cox is now fighting for his life at a New Haven hospital, where he is paralyzed from the neck down and has to use a breathing tube, his attorney Ben Crump said.
"His quality of life is forever diminished," Crump said.
The officers on duty have been placed on administrative leave as the case is being investigated.
The officers include Ronald Pressley, Jocelyn Lavandier, Betsy Segui, Luis Rivera, and Diaz, according to the New Haven Independent.
"They dismissed his pleas as lies, instead of offering immediate medical aid, officers dragged him off the van & threw him into a wheelchair that may have exacerbated his life-threatening injuries," Crump said.
He added: "I believe when you all see that video, it’s going to shock your conscience. The only question is, why would the police look at Randy Cox saying, ‘I can’t move,’ why doesn’t it shock their conscience?"
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