‘UNACCEPTABLE’

Cops Fired Over Treatment of Man Paralyzed in Police Custody

Randy Cox was severely injured in a police van after his arrest.

Two cops in Connecticut were fired on Wednesday night over their actions during an incident in which a man was paralyzed while in police custody last year. Richard “Randy” Cox injured his neck when the police van he was in braked suddenly in June 2022—his hands were cuffed behind his back and there were no seat belts, police said. “I can’t move,” Cox said after the injury, according to police video. “I’m going to die like this. Please, please, please help me.” An internal affairs investigation found several officers mocked Cox when they arrived at the police station, incorrectly accusing him of being drunk and pulling him out of the van by his feet. The New Haven Police Commission on Wednesday voted to fire officers Jocelyn Lavandier and Luis Rivera. They are among four officers who had already been suspended and criminally charged in the case. In a statement Wednesday, New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said what happened to Cox was “unacceptable.”