Randy Cox was paralyzed from the chest down on June 19, 2022, after being thrown headfirst into a metal partition inside a New Haven police transport van that had no seat belts, and in June 2023 the city agreed to pay him $45 million to settle his federal civil rights lawsuit. His attorneys called it the largest settlement in a police misconduct case in U.S. history. The case also produced criminal charges against five officers, firings inside the New Haven Police Department, and two new Connecticut laws governing how people in police custody are transported and treated.
What Happened to Randy Cox
Cox, then 36, was arrested at a block party on Lilac Street on charges of threatening a woman with a gun. Those charges were later dismissed. Officer Oscar Diaz placed him in the back of a transport van, handcuffed behind his back. The van had no seat belts. When Diaz braked hard to avoid a collision, Cox was thrown headfirst into a metal partition and broke his neck.
At the New Haven detention facility, officers accused Cox of being drunk or faking his condition and dragged him from the van into a holding cell rather than calling for medical help. He was eventually taken to a hospital, where doctors confirmed a catastrophic spinal injury. He was left paralyzed from the chest down and has since regained limited movement in his head and hands.
The Federal Lawsuit and $45 Million Settlement
Cox sued the city of New Haven in U.S. District Court in October 2022, initially seeking $100 million. Richard Cox v. City of New Haven alleged that the officers violated Cox’s Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights and that the city was liable for failing to equip its transport vans with adequate safety restraints.
Cox was represented by civil rights attorney Ben Crump along with Lou Rubano and R.J. Weber. Rubano told the court that Cox’s lifetime medical and care costs alone would run between $16 million and $22 million.
The parties reached a $45 million agreement on June 9, 2023, during a conference with U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria Garcia. It resolved all civil claims against the city. Three separate insurance policies covered $10 million each, for a total of $30 million. The city was responsible for the remaining $15 million plus a self-insured retention of up to $1 million.
On September 18, 2023, the New Haven Board of Alders unanimously approved transferring $16 million from the city’s general fund, drawing on a fiscal year 2022–2023 budget surplus of $22.3 million. Because the surplus was sufficient, the city avoided issuing new debt, and a companion bonding resolution was withdrawn. The remaining $7.3 million of the surplus went into the city’s rainy-day fund.
Criminal Charges Against the Officers
In November 2022, five New Haven officers were charged with second-degree reckless endangerment and cruelty to persons in connection with Cox’s injury and the response to it: Oscar Diaz, Jocelyn Lavandier, Luis Rivera, Sergeant Betsy Segui, and Ronald Pressley.
The cases took more than three years to resolve, and none produced jail time. Segui pleaded guilty to misdemeanor reckless endangerment and received a 60-day suspended sentence with a six-month conditional discharge. Pressley also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor reckless endangerment and served no time. On February 13, 2026, Judge David Zagaja granted Diaz, Lavandier, and Rivera accelerated rehabilitation, a probation program that allows charges to be erased. The judge found their conduct negligent but not malicious. Neither Cox nor the New Haven State’s Attorney’s Office objected.
Firings, Appeals, and Decertification
The New Haven Board of Police Commissioners fired all four active officers: Diaz, Lavandier, Rivera, and Segui. Pressley retired before facing internal discipline and was later decertified by Connecticut’s Police Officer Standards and Training Council.
Not all the firings held. Diaz successfully appealed through the Connecticut State Board of Mediation and Arbitration, which converted his termination into a 15-day unpaid suspension. He returned to the department in January 2025 to perform administrative duties, though the POST Council imposed a separate 45-day suspension of his police certification. Segui’s termination was upheld on appeal. Arbitration for Lavandier and Rivera remained pending in early 2026.
Policy Changes and New Connecticut Laws
The case exposed a specific gap: New Haven’s police transport vans lacked seat belts, and no enforceable policy required officers to secure detainees or to render medical aid to someone in custody showing signs of distress.
The New Haven Police Department revised its prisoner-transport procedures, installed seat belts in its transport vans, and significantly curtailed the use of those vehicles. It also introduced department-wide training on “active bystandership” and de-escalation.
The Connecticut legislature passed two bills in direct response to the case. House Bill 6873 required the Police Officer Standards and Training Council to develop a statewide model policy mandating seat belt use for detainees during transport, and it created a disciplinary process, including potential license revocation, for officers who violate it. Senate Bill 1062 required police to request emergency medical services for anyone in custody who shows signs of a serious medical condition. The Senate gave final approval to the seat belt legislation on June 5, 2023.
How the Settlement Compares
Crump, who had previously represented the family of George Floyd in a $27 million settlement with the city of Minneapolis, called the Cox agreement the largest in a police misconduct case in U.S. history. Civil rights organizations including the NAACP highlighted the case, and commentators drew parallels to the 2015 death of Freddie Gray, who died after suffering a spinal injury while handcuffed and unrestrained in a Baltimore police van.
Cox’s legal team framed the original $100 million demand as a challenge to what they described as a historical pattern of undervaluing the lives of Black people in civil rights litigation. The $45 million outcome, while below the initial demand, substantially exceeded earlier benchmarks for comparable cases.