Surveillance video shows a handcuffed suspect being paralyzed after hitting his head in a Connecticut police van last week.
Richard Cox, 36, was being transported to the New Haven Police Department in a van without seatbelts after being arrested on June 19 for illegal firearm possession when the vehicle came to a sudden stop, tossing Cox head first into the wall.
Cox is seen lying on the floor and weakly shouting “help” until officers pull over to investigate the incident.
Officer Oscar Diaz stopped the van to check on Cox.
‘What happened,’ Diaz asked as Cox attempted to tell him various times that he was unable to move his body.
Diaz summoned an ambulance and drove to the police headquarters.
Multiple officers responded to the van and demanded Cox get up and leave, despite Cox’s protests that he couldn’t move.
‘If you got to drag me, do what you got to do,’ Cox told the officers as they proceeded to pull him out by the leg.
‘Sit up,’ an officer told Cox various times as he was placed and slumped over in a wheelchair with his head handing to the far side of his shoulder.
The officers then took Cox inside the station for processing without providing medical attention.
Officers accused Cox of using drugs and alcohol before dragging him to the floor of a cell and handcuffing his feet together, claiming that was his issue.
‘He’s perfectly fine,’ an officer said.
Cox is currently fighting for his life in a New Haven hospital, according to his attorney, Ben Crump.
‘He’s paralyzed from the chest down and has to use a breathing tube – his quality of life is forever diminished,’ Crump said.
Crump, who famously represented the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Trayvon Martin, is demanding justice after Cox was ‘brutalized’ for no apparent reason.
‘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.
The investigation is ongoing, and the officers on duty have been placed on administrative leave. According to the New Haven Independent, the officers are Ronald Pressley, Jocelyn Lavandier, Betsy Segui, Luis Rivera, and Diaz.
A lawsuit is in the works, according to Jack O’Donnell, a local attorney representing Cox.
Cox’s family and legal team will hold a press conference at the New Haven Superior Court on Tuesday at 11 a.m.