Transcription
Former Sergeant Betsy Segee took the plea deal, while the other three charged rejected the plea deal and are headed to trial. If convicted, all three could face up to a year and a half years in jail.
Former Sergeant Betsy Segu pleaded guilty to 2nd degree reckless endangerment. She also received a 60-day suspended sentence and a 6-month conditional discharge. The 5th officer charged, Ronald Presley, accepted the same plea deal. However, Officer Oscar Diaz and former officers Jocelyn Lavender and Luis Rivera rejected the same plea deal from the state.
Ray Hassett, the attorney representing Rivera, says not all of the officers played the same role in the incident. "Everybody feels really bad for Mr. Cox and what happened to him. It's a tragedy. But these officers, as will be established in court, had nothing to do with his injuries. They didn't exacerbate them. They didn't cause them. They didn't create them."
Four of the officers were fired by the city, but Diaz was reinstated earlier this year after the state labor board overturned his firing. Segee's bid to return to the department was rejected, while arbitration cases for Lavender and Rivera are still open. Attorney Daniel Ford represents Lavender and says he's looking forward to their day in court. "I don't think. Did anything wrong here and I think the jury is going to agree with all of us."
In June of 2022, Randy Cox was arrested by the New Haven Police Department and was charged with weapon offenses. He was put in the back of a police transport van driven by Officer Diaz. On the way to the police department, the van stopped short. Cox, who was in the back of the van with no seat belt, flew headfirst into a wall inside the van.
New Haven State's Attorney John P. Doyle Jr. says Cox tried to tell the officers he was hurt. "that he was not injured that they were." Body cam footage shows Cox being taken out of the vehicle, being placed on the ground, and then being placed in a wheelchair. He was later dragged into a holding cell. As a result of this incident, Cox is now paralyzed from the mid-chest down. The offenses Cox was charged with were eventually dropped by the state.
The state's position is the conduct and behavior by the officers at the scene. In detention center was reckless to Mr. Cox indifference to his claims, referring to him as being intoxicated or nonresponsive. The state's attorney says Cox is prepared to testify if necessary at trial. The judge will hear arguments next month as to whether the three should be charged together or separately. The first trial is expected to begin on February 9th in New Haven. Alicia Hercules, Fox 61.