Judge Dismisses Criminal Charges Against Three New Haven Officers in Randy Cox Case

A Connecticut judge dismissed criminal charges Friday against three current and former New Haven police officers accused of mistreating Randy Cox, who was paralyzed in the back of a police van in 2022.

Judge David Zagaja dropped the cases against Oscar Diaz, Jocelyn Lavandier and Luis Rivera after granting them a probation program that allows charges to be erased from defendants’ records, according to court proceedings. The judge said their conduct was not malicious.

Cox, 40, was left paralyzed from the chest down on June 19, 2022, when the police van, which had no seat belts, braked hard to avoid an accident, according to police records. The sudden stop sent Cox head-first into a metal partition while his hands were cuffed behind his back. He had been arrested on charges of threatening a woman with a gun, which were later dismissed.

“I can’t move. I’m going to die like this. Please, please, please help me,” Cox said in the van minutes after being injured, according to police video. He later was found to have broken his neck.

Diaz, who was driving the van, brought Cox to the police department, where officers mocked Cox and accused him of being drunk and faking his injuries, according to surveillance and body-worn camera footage. Officers dragged Cox out of the van and around the police station before placing him in a holding cell before paramedics brought him to a hospital.

Before pulling him out of the van, Lavandier told Cox to move his leg and sit up, according to an internal affairs investigation report. Cox says “I can’t move” and Lavandier says “You’re not even trying.”

New Haven State’s Attorney John P. Doyle Jr.’s office said prosecutors and Cox did not object to the charges being dismissed. The three officers whose cases were dismissed were scheduled to go on trial next month.

Two other officers involved in the case, Betsy Segui and Ronald Pressley, pleaded guilty last year to misdemeanor reckless endangerment and received no jail time, according to court records.

Defense lawyers said that while the officers were sympathetic to what happened to Cox, they did not cause his injuries or make them worse.

“We don’t think that there was sufficient evidence to prove her guilt or any wrongdoing,” said Lavandier’s attorney, Dan Ford. “This is a negotiated settlement that avoids the risk of having go through the emotional toll of a trial.”

Rivera’s lawyer, Raymond Hassett, called the decision to charge the officers “unjust and misplaced.”

“The actions of the Police Chief and City Mayor in targeting the officers were a misguided effort to deflect attention from the police department shortcomings in managing the department and ensuring proper protocols were in place and followed,” Hassett said in a statement.

New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said city officials disagreed with the judge’s decision to dismiss the charges.

“What happened to Randy was tragic and awful,” he said in a statement.

The case drew outrage from civil rights advocates including the NAACP, along with comparisons to the Freddie Gray case in Baltimore, according to advocacy groups. Cox is Black, while all five officers who were arrested are Black or Hispanic.

The case led to reforms at the New Haven police department as well as a statewide seat belt requirement for prisoners, according to state officials.

In 2023, the city of New Haven agreed to settle a lawsuit by Cox for $45 million, according to court documents.

New Haven police fired Segui, Diaz, Lavandier and Rivera for violating police conduct policies, while Pressley retired and avoided an internal investigation, according to department records. Diaz appealed his firing and got his job back. Segui lost the appeal of her firing, while appeals by Lavandier and Rivera remain pending.