Grim surveillance footage captured the moment a handcuffed Connecticut man broke his neck in the back of a police van after the driver braked suddenly, causing him to smash his head.
Randy Cox, 36, was left paralyzed from the waist down when he was being taken to a police station in New Haven to be processed on a weapons charge on June 19, his family said.
The video — which is among a string of clips released by police this week — showed Cox suddenly sliding head-first into the interior wall of the prisoner van, which authorities said wasn’t equipped with seat belts.
The driver of the van, Officer Oscar Diaz, said he was forced to brake hard in order to avoid a collision, police said.
Diaz continued driving to the station — despite an injured Cox calling out for help and saying he was unable to move from the floor, according to the video and officials.
A few minutes later, Diaz stopped the van to check on Cox. The officer then called paramedics but told them to meet at the station instead of where he’d stopped the van, police said.
After arriving at the station, video showed several officers pulling Cox from the van by his feet and putting him in a wheelchair.
Police subsequently booked Cox, took him out of the wheelchair and left him on the floor of a jail cell, footage also showed.
The paramedics arrived minutes later and took Cox to the hospital, police said.
The driver and four other New Haven cops have since been placed on administrative leave as state police investigate the incident.
New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker and acting Police Chief Regina Rush-Kittle said they released the videos publicly in a bid to be transparent and had given all evidence to state police, who were called in to conduct an independent probe.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Cox and his family, said the injured man remained in intensive care.
“I am here because when I looked at that video, it shocked my conscience,” Crump said at a press conference outside New Haven Superior Court on Tuesday.
“And I believe when you all see that video, it’s going to shock your conscience. The only question is, why, when the police look at Randy Cox saying, ‘I can’t move,’ why doesn’t it shock their conscience?”
With Post wires
