Black Man Lies Paralyzed in Hospital Bed After Negligent Transport by Cops
by Jo Ellen Nott
A hard stop by a police transport van snapped the neck of Richard Cox, 36, of New Haven, Connecticut, leaving him paralyzed on June 19, 2022. Cox had been arrested and handcuffed for the illegal possession of a firearm before he was placed in a van without seatbelts for detainees. After seeing video of the incident, Cox’s family, community, and attorney were outraged over the behavior of transport Officer Oscar Diaz. They question why Cox was placed into the back of the van without being safely strapped into the seat knowing he did not have the use of his hands and why Officer Diaz hit the brakes so hard knowing that Cox was restrained. Adding insult to injury, Diaz was speeding during the transport according to his body camera.
In the driver’s bodycam footage, a loud thud is heard when Diaz lays on the horn and slams on the brakes to stop. Interior video of the transport at the time of the abrupt stop shows Cox sitting on a small ledge before he is suddenly catapulted headfirst towards the back of the van. When Diaz opened the back door to check on Cox, he discovered him in a contorted position and unable to move his arms and legs. He then radioed for an ambulance and headed to police headquarters. At headquarters, officers repeatedly ignored Cox’s insistence that he could not move and drug him out of the van and sat him on the ground accusing him of having drunk too much.
The officers continued to believe Cox was faking his injury when he tells them his neck is broken. With that news, the officers dragged Cox along the ground and into a cell. The officers continued insisting Cox was fine while they cuffed his ankles and left him.
As of June 28, 2022, Richard Cox was still on a respirator and eating through a feeding tube. At a press conference on the same day, civil rights attorney Ben Crump blamed the New Haven Police Department: “Randy Cox is lying in that hospital bed paralyzed from the chest down because of the actions and inactions of the New Haven Police Department.”
Diaz and the other officer who transported him, Sgt. Betsy Segui, as well as the officers who dragged Cox out of the van, have been placed on administrative leave, according to the New Haven Register.
Source: vice.com
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