Randy Cox’s $45 Million New Haven Police Settlement

New Haven paid Richard “Randy” Cox $45 million in June 2023 to settle his federal civil rights lawsuit after he was paralyzed from the chest down in the back of a police transport van, a figure his attorneys called the largest police misconduct settlement in United States history.¹ The payout surpassed the $27 million Minneapolis paid in the George Floyd case in 2021.²

What Happened to Randy Cox

On June 19, 2022, New Haven officers arrested Cox, then 36, at a block party on Lilac Street after reportedly finding him with a handgun. The gun charges were later dismissed.³ Officers put Cox in a transport van with his hands cuffed behind his back and no seatbelt. When Officer Oscar Diaz braked hard to avoid another vehicle, Cox was thrown headfirst into a metal partition and broke his neck.⁴

Video from inside the van caught Cox pleading, “I can’t move. I’m going to die like this. Please, please, please help me.”⁵ At the detention center, officers did not provide medical care. They accused him of being drunk, dragged him out of the van by his feet, and put him in a holding cell. Sgt. Betsy Segui told him, “You ain’t crack nothing. You just drank too much.”⁴ Officer Jocelyn Lavandier, told by Cox that he could not move his leg, replied, “You’re not even trying.” When Cox finally reached Yale-New Haven Hospital, doctors confirmed a broken neck and paralysis from the chest down.³

The Settlement

Attorneys Ben Crump, Louis Rubano, and R.J. Weber III filed a $100 million federal civil rights lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut in September 2022, naming the city, Diaz, Officer Ronald Pressley, Lavandier, Officer Luis Rivera, and Segui.⁶ The 17-count complaint alleged violations of Cox’s Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights, including excessive force and denial of medical treatment.⁷

On June 9, 2023, after a conference with a federal magistrate judge, the parties agreed on $45 million.⁸ Mayor Justin Elicker said the figure was driven by an assessment of the lifetime medical care a paraplegic individual requires rather than by comparisons to other settlements.⁹ Because the city is legally required to indemnify the individual officers, the settlement covered all named defendants.¹⁰

How New Haven Paid

Insurance covered roughly $30 million. The remaining $15 million, plus a self-insured retention of up to $1 million, fell to the city. The Board of Alders voted unanimously to transfer $16 million from the fiscal year 2022–2023 general fund surplus, which had reached $22.3 million. An amendment that would have authorized borrowing instead was voted down.¹

What Happened to the Officers

A March 2023 internal affairs report found that officers on the scene had wrongly believed Cox was intoxicated and faking his injuries, and that several had failed to activate their body-worn cameras in violation of department policy.³ Police Chief Karl Jacobson recommended termination for four officers, and the Board of Police Commissioners voted to fire Lavandier and Rivera on June 7, 2023, and Diaz and Segui on June 28.¹¹ Pressley had retired before the disciplinary process concluded, avoiding the internal investigation.⁵

The firings did not all hold. In January 2024, the Connecticut State Board of Mediation and Arbitration voted 2-1 to overturn Diaz’s termination, finding the city had not proven his actions caused Cox’s injuries and noting his clean 15-year record. The panel substituted a 15-day unpaid suspension and ordered back pay.¹² The city tried to vacate the ruling in court but was compelled to reinstate Diaz, who returned to administrative desk duty in January 2025.¹³

A separate panel voted 2-1 in July 2024 to uphold Segui’s termination, citing multiple policy violations, her failure to activate her body camera, her failure to supervise, and her being “untruthful and inconsistent” during the investigation. The panel was particularly troubled by her insistence that she “did not do anything wrong” and would repeat her actions.¹⁴ Arbitration appeals for Lavandier and Rivera were still pending in early 2026.³

Criminal Cases: No Jail Time for Any Officer

All five officers were arrested on November 28, 2022, and charged with second-degree reckless endangerment and cruelty to persons, both misdemeanors. They pleaded not guilty on January 11, 2023.¹¹ The cases took more than three years to resolve, and none of the officers went to jail.

Segui and Pressley each pleaded guilty to second-degree reckless endangerment in November 2025 and received 60-day suspended jail sentences. Segui also received six months of conditional discharge.⁴ Pressley had already been decertified as a police officer by Connecticut’s Police Officer Standards and Training Council on June 12, 2024.¹⁵

Diaz, Lavandier, and Rivera rejected plea offers and were set for a consolidated trial with jury selection in February 2026.¹⁶ Instead, on February 13, 2026, Judge David Zagaja granted all three entry into Connecticut’s accelerated rehabilitation program, a form of probation that erases charges from a person’s record, and dismissed the cases. The judge said their conduct “was not malicious” and that the case “boiled down to the officers failed to recognize the gravity of Cox’s injuries,” adding that prosecutors would have faced “challenges proving the charges” at trial.¹⁷ New Haven State’s Attorney John P. Doyle Jr. said Cox had been consulted and did not object.⁵ Cox’s attorney Louis Rubano had previously said the family wanted the criminal proceedings closed because a trial would force them to relive “the events of that tragic day.”⁴

Policy Changes That Followed

The New Haven Police Department rewrote its prisoner transport procedures, installed seatbelts in its transport vans, and sharply limited the vans’ use.¹⁸ The department also required training on active bystandership and de-escalation, told officers to ask people in custody whether they need medical attention, and adopted a “duty to intervene” when officers witness mistreatment.⁹

At the state level, the Connecticut Senate gave final approval in June 2023 to legislation requiring seatbelts for all prisoners during police transport statewide.¹⁹

Where Randy Cox Is Now

Cox remains paralyzed from the chest down and requires lifetime care. He has used part of the settlement to buy a home, where he lives with his mother and receives help from medical professionals.⁴ The gun charges from his arrest that day were dropped because of his injuries.²⁰

1
CT Mirror. Randy Cox Paralyzed New Haven CT Settlement
2
WBUR. Police Misconduct Settlement Historic New Haven Connecticut
3
New Haven Register. Randy Cox New Haven Police Ronald Pressley
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CT Mirror. Randy Cox Officer Guilty Plea
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CT Mirror. Judge Dismisses Charges Against 3 CT Officers Accused of Mistreating Randy Cox
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New Haven Independent. Cox Lawsuit
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Yale Daily News. Cox Sues New Haven for 100 Million Elicker Open to Negotiate
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NBC News. Randy Cox Paralyzed in Police Van Reaches 45 Million Settlement With New Haven
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New Haven Register. New Haven Mayor 45M Cox Settlement Doing Right
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New Haven Independent. Cox Case Settles for 45 Million
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ABC News. Police Board Votes Fire 2 New Haven Officers
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New Haven Independent. Cox Cop Van Driver Gets Job Back
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CT Post. CT New Haven Officer Rehired Randy Cox Van Driver
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New Haven Independent. Betsy Segui Arbitration
15
Connecticut POST Council. Decertified Officers List
16
New Haven Register. Randy Cox New Haven Police Trial Hearing
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New Haven Register. New Haven Police Randy Cox Paralysis Case
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NBC Connecticut. Three Will Face Trial Together for Police Incident That Left Randy Cox Paralyzed
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CBS Austin. Randy Cox Paralyzed in Police Van Reaches 45 Million Settlement With New Haven Connecticut
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CT Examiner. Fault in Paralyzed Mans Case Is More Fairly Settled at Last