A former Connecticut police officer has pleaded guilty in connection with the mistreatment of Richard “Randy” Cox, who was left paralyzed after a harrowing incident inside a police van. The case has drawn significant public attention and controversy, highlighting concerns about police conduct and the treatment of detainees. Cox’s injury, subsequent treatment by officers, and the legal aftermath have exposed systemic issues within the New Haven Police Department and have spurred calls for reform.
The incident occurred on June 19, 2022, when Richard Cox, then 39 years old, was arrested on charges of threatening a woman with a gun—charges that were later dismissed. While being transported in a police van, Cox was not wearing a seat belt. The van braked sharply, causing Cox, who was handcuffed with his hands behind his back, to be thrown head-first into a metal partition inside the vehicle. The impact left him paralyzed from the chest down. Police video footage captured Cox’s distress in the aftermath of the crash, including his desperate pleas for help as he realized the severity of his injuries. “I can’t move. I’m going to die like this. Please, please, please help me,” Cox said moments after the collision. He was later diagnosed with a broken neck.
What followed at the police station was equally troubling. Surveillance and body-worn camera footage revealed that officers mocked Cox and accused him of being intoxicated and feigning injury. Rather than receiving immediate medical attention, Cox was dragged out of the van and moved around the station before being placed in a holding cell. When Cox expressed his belief that he may have cracked his neck, then-New Haven sergeant Betsy Segui, who supervised the lockup, dismissed his concerns, reportedly telling him, “You ain’t crack nothing. You just drank too much,” according to an internal affairs investigation.
The mistreatment did not end there. Cox’s experience sparked outrage among civil rights advocates, including the NAACP, and drew comparisons to the 2015 Freddie Gray case in Baltimore, where Gray, also a Black man, suffered a fatal spinal injury while restrained in a police van. The racial dynamics of the Cox case are notable; Cox is Black, while the five officers involved in his transport and subsequent treatment are Black or Hispanic. The case highlighted broader issues around the treatment of detainees of color and the accountability of law enforcement officers.
In the wake of the incident and the public outcry, the city of New Haven agreed to a $45 million settlement with Cox in 2023, underscoring the severity of the incident and the city’s acknowledgment of wrongdoing. However, the criminal cases against the officers involved have taken a more complicated path. Five officers faced charges related to Cox’s injury and treatment, including cruelty to persons and reckless endangerment.
On Wednesday, Betsy Segui pleaded guilty to second-degree reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor charge. In exchange for her plea, she received a 60-day suspended jail term, meaning she will not serve time behind bars. Segui, who had been the sergeant overseeing the police lockup, is no longer employed by the New Haven Police Department. Her lawyer, Gregory Cerritelli, stated that Segui wished to put the criminal case behind her and move on with her life and new career, though he declined to specify the nature of her current occupation. Segui did not comment on Cox’s treatment during her court appearance and only responded to routine questions about her plea.
Earlier, another former officer, Ronald Pressley, accepted the same plea deal and received an identical sentence. Pressley retired from the force, while Segui, along with three other officers—Oscar Diaz, Jocelyn Lavandier, and Luis Rivera—were fired for violating police conduct policies. Diaz, who was driving the van at the time of Cox’s injury, contested his firing and was reinstated after an appeal. Diaz claimed that the sudden braking was necessary to avoid a collision with another vehicle.
The remaining three officers—Diaz, Lavandier, and Rivera—have rejected plea deals and opted to take their cases to trial. All face charges of cruelty to persons and reckless endangerment. Prosecutors have indicated that Cox was informed of Segui’s plea deal beforehand and consented to it.
Richard Cox and his family have expressed a desire for the criminal cases to conclude swiftly through plea bargains, as they hope to avoid reliving the trauma of that