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5 Connecticut law enforcement officials pleaded not responsible Wednesday to costs accusing them of cruelly mistreating a Black man after he was partially paralyzed in a police van with no seat belts when the motive force braked exhausting.

The New Haven officers entered the pleas throughout their second appearances in state court docket since being arrested in November in reference to the accidents suffered by Richard “Randy” Cox, who’s paralyzed from the chest down. All 5 remained free on bail and on depart from their jobs.

The officers — Oscar Diaz, Betsy Segui, Ronald Pressley, Jocelyn Lavandier and Luis Rivera — are charged with second-degree reckless endangerment and cruelty to individuals — misdemeanor costs criticized as too gentle by Cox’s household and attorneys.

The case has drawn outrage from civil rights advocates just like the NAACP, together with comparisons to the Freddie Grey case in Baltimore. Grey, who was additionally Black, died in 2015 after he suffered a spinal damage whereas handcuffed and shackled in a metropolis police van.

Cox, 36, was being pushed to a New Haven police station June 19 for processing on a weapons cost when, police mentioned, the officer driving the van braked exhausting at an intersection to keep away from a collision.

Cox, whose palms have been handcuffed behind his again, flew headfirst into the metallic partition separating the motive force’s part from the prisoners’ compartment, leading to Cox fracturing his neck.

“I can’t transfer. I’m going to die like this. Please, please, please assist me,” Cox mentioned minutes after the crash, in response to police video.

Diaz, the officer driving the van, stopped a couple of minutes later to verify on him, in response to police video and officers. Cox was mendacity immobile on the ground and Diaz referred to as paramedics. Nevertheless, Diaz informed them to fulfill him on the station as an alternative of ready for them — a violation of division coverage, Police Chief Karl Jacobson mentioned.

On the station, a few of the officers mocked Cox and accused him of being drunk and faking his accidents, in response to surveillance and body-worn digital camera footage. Officers dragged Cox by his ft out of the van and positioned him in a holding cell previous to his eventual switch to a hospital.

Gregory Cerritelli, a lawyer for Segui, who was on the police station when Cox arrived, mentioned his consumer will not be liable for Cox’s accidents.

“Cops are sometimes required to make the most of their greatest judgment in assessing conditions, and are actually being judged with the good thing about 20/20 hindsight,” Cerritelli mentioned in an electronic mail to The Related Press on Wednesday. “Our Supreme Courtroom has persistently held this isn’t the suitable commonplace.”

Cox is suing the officers and metropolis for $100 million in federal court docket for alleged negligence, extreme use of power, failing to supply speedy medical care, assault and intentional infliction of emotional misery, amongst different claims.

In court docket paperwork, the officers and the town deny the lawsuit allegations, declare immunity and partially blame Cox for his personal actions.

In court docket filings final week, the officers additionally accused an ambulance firm and emergency medical technicians of failing to present Cox correct remedy earlier than transporting him from the police station to the hospital.

The felony costs towards Cox that led to his arrest have been dropped.

New Haven police say they’ve put new insurance policies in place in response to what occurred to Cox, together with eliminating using police vans for many prisoner transports and utilizing marked police automobiles as an alternative, together with ensuring vans have seat belts.

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