The Metropolis of New Haven, Connecticut, fired two cops Wednesday for what authorities referred to as their reckless actions and lack of compassion towards Richard “Randy” Cox, who was injured and turned paralyzed behind a police van after his arrest final 12 months.
Metropolis police commissioners voted to dismiss Jocelyn Lavandier and Luis Rivera for violating officer conduct guidelines on following the regulation, integrity, trustworthiness, courtesy and respect. The 2 officers and three others additionally face legal expenses.
4 of the six commissioners voted in favor of the terminations whereas two abstained, which Fee Chair Evelise Ribeiro stated was probably as a result of they did not attend hearings on the matter. The physique additionally postponed a vote on whether or not to fireplace two different officers concerned in Cox’s detention.
A message in search of remark was left with a lawyer for Lavandier and Rivera.
Cox injured his neck on June 19, 2022, when the police van braked arduous to keep away from a collision with one other automobile that pulled out from a facet avenue, in accordance with police. Cox’s arms had been cuffed behind his again and there have been no seat belts, and he flew head-first into the metallic divider between the motive force’s part and the prisoners’ space.
“I am unable to transfer. I’ll die like this. Please, please, please assist me,” Cox stated, in accordance with police video.
New Haven Police through AP
Inside affairs investigators stated Lavandier and Rivera had been amongst a number of officers on the police station who recklessly dragged him out of the van and across the detention space whereas he was paralyzed, mocked him for not having the ability to transfer and falsely accused him of being drunk.
“It made me sick to my abdomen, to deal with someone like that,” Cox’s sister, Latoya Boomer, advised CBS Information.
Cox had been arrested on allegations he threatened a girl with a gun, expenses that later had been dismissed.
5 officers, together with Lavandier and Rivera, had been criminally charged on allegations they cruelly mistreated and uncared for Cox, who was left paralyzed from the chest down and is suing the officers and town for $100 million. The legal circumstances stay pending.
New Haven Police through AP
Police Chief Karl Jacobson advisable to police commissioners in March that Lavandier, Rivera, Diaz and Segui be fired.
Talking to reporters in November, when the costs had been filed towards the 5 officers, Jacobson stated, “”You may make errors, however you possibly can’t deal with individuals poorly, interval. You can’t deal with individuals the way in which Mr. Cox was handled.”
Their attorneys have stated they shouldn’t be fired. Gregory Cerritelli, who represents Segui, has referred to as them “scapegoats” for the division’s “insufficient coaching and insurance policies.”
Pressley retired in January, so he doesn’t face inside self-discipline by the division.
The case has drawn outrage from civil rights advocates just like the NAACP, together with comparisons to the Freddie Grey case in Baltimore. Cox is Black, whereas all 5 officers who had been arrested are Black or Hispanic.
Grey, who additionally was Black, died in 2015 after he suffered a spinal harm whereas handcuffed and shackled in a metropolis police van.
New Haven police stated Diaz was driving the van when Cox was injured. He pulled over a number of minutes after Cox started pleading for assist and referred to as an ambulance, however advised paramedics to fulfill him on the police station, officers stated. Diaz violated coverage by not ready for the ambulance the place he had pulled over, Jacobson stated.
On the station, officers say, Lavandier and different officers dragged Cox out of the van and tried to face him up, however Cox collapsed to the ground as officers held him. Officers then put him in a wheelchair and introduced him to a cell, the place they put him on the ground and waited for the ambulance.
Through the interactions, officers saved ordering Cox to rise up or transfer, accused him of being drunk and did not imagine he was injured, investigators stated. A number of the officers advised investigators that they would not have moved Cox from the van in the event that they knew the severity of his accidents.
Metropolis police subsequently introduced reforms together with ensuring all prisoners put on seat belts. The state Senate on Monday gave closing legislative approval to a invoice spurred by the Cox case that will require seat belts for all prisoners being transported.
