Community Conversation: The Culture of Policing & The Randy Cox Incident

[Music] thank you thank you foreign [Music] good evening this is Hamden action now and we are coming on tonight to talk about the incident with Mr Richard Randy Cox Jr um and the horrific injuries he sustained in the back of a New Haven Police Department transportation vehicle. We have members of the community that want to just come on and discuss this matter tonight, um just to kind of talk about the culture of policing. We continue to keep hearing about training and various other things that are supposed to be resolving these issues, but they seem to continue to keep happening. So we want everybody to stay tuned. We're just gonna have a little quick conversation about this tonight and what we believe are going to be happening in the future with regard to how we're going to support the Cox family. Stay tuned, see you on the other side. [Music] foreign [Music] good evening everybody, how are you? Good afternoon. The technology issues tonight have been, you know, I think everybody's on the internet at one time tonight because Lord, I mean, everybody's having so many issues. So I'm thankful that everybody was able to make it on tonight. We could all talk and just kind of debrief what we have encountered this week, uh, with the issue with uh Randy Cox Jr and his horrific spinal cord injuries that he sustained while being transported from Lilac Street down to the Detention Center here in pretty, I think it's a pretty fairly short ride. Um, he sustained a serious neck spinal cord injury which left him paralyzed from the chest down. According to the video we watched, um, you know, the driver of the wagon, as they call it, um, was texting, you know, while driving and then had to avoid a collision and Mr. Cox, you know, went flying into the wall and just never really moved again. It was begging for help and no one seemed to give him any help. I mean, they just, they were so casual and nonchalant about, you know, slinging him and dragging him around and, you know, I, I just can't even imagine how he was tortured, uh, because he was obviously had a broken neck, literally. So, um, let's hear from everybody tonight. Let's see which, let's, you know, we want to talk about the culture of policing. What do you, what do you all think? Representative Porter, I know you, you want to go first because I saw you with Benjamin Crump on Tuesday at a press conference and then also a community event. So I know you have a lot to share.

I think the first thing that I'll just say is that, you know, this has been, well, it's been one too many. The star, but in look at what happened to Randy Cox Jr, the first thing I was reminded of is that it could have been my, it could have been anyone's son, uncle, father, brother, cousin, lover, friend. Yeah. And it shouldn't have happened. He didn't deserve that. No one deserves to be treated the way that that young man was treated, irregardless to what he was arrested for. And he was arrested without incident. He is not a felon. And I just think that cool, I wasn't able to watch it. Let's start with that. I ended at them putting him in a wheelchair. And because I have watched some news here these last few days, I have seen parts of the video that I hadn't seen prior to that that really shook me. Um, and I can tell you my experience when I initially watched, when I was able to tolerate, was I couldn't breathe. I literally found myself just like gasping for air. I couldn't breathe. And I was having a hard time understanding why, if someone was saying, first of all, he was crying out for help, he had been injured, um, tremendously injured, and he was stating that he couldn't move, that he thought his neck was broke. And I think I'm just at a loss at why that wasn't taken seriously by the officers and why they felt compelled to treat him the way they did. There's a terrible disconnect and I do believe that it is rooted and grounded in the culture of policing. And I think when people understand the history of policing and what policing has been birthed out of and what it has turned into, right? It initially started as slave patrol. And I have to tell you, that's what I saw when I watched that video. And what made it really ironic was they weren't white officers. And I think that's something that the black community is having to grapple with and process. And then you fast forward, you know, from slave patrol to the, the, the militarization of policing. And I had to ask myself, what is it that we can do that will effectively change the impact that policing has on communities? And I think when we take a look at that, we have to first talk about the lack of an ability to track the problem and accurate data collection. You know, data on police killings or police use of force. I think that's something that we definitely have to look at and find a way to make sure that what we're tracking and the data that we are reporting is actually accurate. And then we have to deal with the militarization, or should I say the demilitarization of, uh, police departments? Because for decades, police departments have been gradually adopting more and more gear from U.S. military. And it's the 1033 program, right? Which provides free surplus military gear to police departments. And I know that we haven't been here in New Haven and Hamden, and they're, they're getting geared up with military equipment, which means they're going to war on our communities. You don't militarize if your job is to serve and protect. That's a big problem. And, and I think it goes without saying that we have to change the culture of policing. And I'm not sure exactly how we do that. But what I do know is that the body does what the head tells it to do. And it starts with leadership. Yeah. And we're gonna have to have people in leadership that have the backbone, the intestinal fortitude, the courage to stand against evil, because that's what I see it at. It's evil. And it's a lack of humanity. It's a lack of love. And, you know, we talk about love and people say, you know, you're talking about criminals. Right? I think we have to deal with the root causes, right? And stop dealing with the symptoms. Because we live in communities that have been strategically, intentionally, and maliciously designed to produce what we see happening in our communities. And the pandemic has exacerbated that and made it even worse. So, and we're going to have to invest in alternatives. You know, when we talk about solutions, we have to invest in alternatives that are preventative. And yes, we will have to deal with what we have on hand in the present time. But how do we even prevent ourselves from getting to this? And if we don't pluck it from the root, if we don't deal with the root causes, guess what? You can pluck the weeds, but they're going to grow back. Yeah. Yeah. And we must instill oversight when we hold bad police officers. Because all of them aren't bad. I have a lot of family and friends that serve, um, as police officers, and they do a great job. Yeah. But we can't deny that we have some problems within policing that need to be addressed. And good officers need to be in a liberating space where they can be free to report bad behavior and police police brutality without the fear of retaliation. Because that is real. And I, like I said, my family and friends who serve as officers talk about that quite candidly with me. And I think that is part of what we saw happening coming from the faces that look like ours. And we need to address that. We have to address that. That was shocking to me. I, I was shocked. You had brown, you had black, you had, I mean, really, oh, it seemed like a blatant disregard for humanity. You have a person who is saying, help me. He said it twice. I hope I don't die like this. Two times he said that in the video. So what do you guys, so what do you think, CJ from Black Brown United in Action?

Well, here's what I think. Um, I commend you for getting that far with that video. As a mother to a black son myself, I just couldn't. I mean, the truth is, I don't know if this is limited to policing. Because in my experience of having to escort a front, well, not even escort, call emergency services for a family member, the way they treat us is remarkably different. And especially depending on the area that the services are going to, right? You'll see a just change in temperature. So that's one part I want to just say. In terms of the fact that, you know, we talk about having representation and we say, you know, if we get the people who look like us, they'll do right by us. But these folks did not do the right thing. They did the white thing, right? And they felt comfortable doing it because if Devin Eaton could do it down the street, I could do it over here. It's just as simple as that, right? Um, we're treated like animals in the Ville. You know, nine o'clock, you gotta run in your house because there's police over here, like these everywhere. Um, you know, some of us, we're just giving up because again, in our community, we ignore the impact of COVID in terms of having to quarantine, in terms of having to struggle to pay your bills, in terms of not being able to afford your rent or food or milk, tampons, right? Yeah. You name it, you can't afford it, right? So there's a lot of other factors here in the Ville and other cities, right? But especially what reporter said about, you know, the head and the body, right? Now, more recently, we knew, I want to say this, conveniently before Juneteenth, we found out that our friend, um, your friend there, dusted, I mean, Justin Ellicker, he spent ARPA funds on more policing related stuff. Right? Our ball, we have people who are facing homelessness, they can't afford food, they can't afford tampons, they can't afford, um, you know, milk. But we could buy AR-15s and in terms of military equipment, that is true. Uh, my understanding is that right here in Pistol Wave in New Haven, right? The military equipment is spread like peanut butter. So what's happening is all these different substations, there's military equipment at those, and it's going up the corridor. Because I remember visiting the Middletown Police Department and a couple others, and they have tags. What do you need tags for? What are we doing that you need a tag for? Right? So I think like, you know, as much work that was put in by legislators such as reporter for accountability, it just seems like, you know, the oppressiveness, the slavery, um, the slave patrol must continue. And now, you know, um, as I was saying to someone earlier, we're not back in the 50s, we're actually before that again. But we need to see that and say that because some of our own are doing it. Yes. Like I can't get over that. Like, I, I was like, is that a black guy over there dragging this poor man, throwing him literally physically bodily into a wheelchair? Yes, it was. Because, you know, we're supposed to be strong. And, um, again, being, uh, someone who's an immigrant and not white, would you look at that? You know, I'm stigmatized in different ways. So we're stigmatized, you know, we're facing different, uh, barriers to access and opportunity, right? Um, and as this saying goes, the natives are restless. They're going to treat us like, you know, a lot of people assume that he had done something seriously criminal. Like they assumed that this kid had like a hard past. Right? That's just nothing. There was no incident. I mean, like, you know, everybody always says, oh, you need to comply. You know, George Floyd didn't comply. This guy's sitting in the back of a damn van. Really? How much, what, what? And it can't, like, even like my thing is, even if they had shackled him to the, like them to actually to the seat, so when the, when the thing alerts to the side, he would have been, he wouldn't have flown. He literally couldn't even break his fall because his hands are behind his back, right? Which meant that the impact was dead weight. It was dead. It was like nobody to control himself. It was dead weight. And that's where the damage was done. And the damage was exacerbated by the treatment he received at the hands of the officers who placed hands on him. That's what they call it, right? It's a rough ride. Is if they perceive you a certain way, they treat you a certain way. And they participate. This is something that's been going on for a while. Um, and again, it's not limited to those vehicles only. Other emergency vehicles, as I've witnessed again, a relative was supposed to be admitted to the ER, and these folks drove as if they were taking a Sunday stroll. So rough rides happen in different ways, shapes, and forms. This one is especially egregious. But you have to wonder, who else's been through this that we don't know about? Somebody else? Because, you know, what about our homeless and the others who don't have people to speak up for them, the voiceless, you know? So there's a lot to be said here, and there's a lot that needs to be faced for what it is. The answer is not more policing. The answer is not more of what we already have that's wrong. And what train these officers that pull this better? Lori, do you think that, you know, what if somebody keeps telling me that, well, you know, we just need more training. I mean, Justin Ellicker had the audacity to say that on Tuesday night to the community. Maybe just, we're gonna have to look better in the training. How do you train somebody to be a, to treat another human like a human? Trainings are gonna do nothing. They broke policy procedure. You know, and, and they knew that it was going to be fine and that they were going to get paid leave and they'd be protected. And the unions are going to come and protect them. And something else will happen again. No trainings. There's no training that's out. We look at school shootings. Those trainings didn't help those poor children. I get in this argument on the daily basis about police need more trainings, they need more equipment, they need this militarized equipment. Well, they had it and they don't use it. And they don't enter our schools. Look what happened here. Rhonda and I spoke about this yesterday. We treat our animals in animal control vehicles better than we treated this poor young man who was innocent until proven otherwise, right? We take care of animals better. Yeah. Go ahead. I'm sorry. No, no, go ahead.

I was just going to say, you know, you're talking about training and it's actually two methods that don't work. You know, and this has been a part of discussion and, uh, research around implicit bias trainings and body cameras, right? Because that's the other thing that we have actually done at the state level to push, you know, body cameras. And if we get this on, you know, video, and we know that doesn't work. And, and the fact that implicit bias trainings have become one of like the most, most popular reforms that police and sheriff departments have implemented in recent years. And the idea is that training the officers, you know, to be more aware of their implicit bias or subconscious biases about class, gender, race will help to reduce, right, to conflicts with these marginalized communities, black and brown communities. But the experts are actually saying they are growing skeptical on whether this training is actually effective. If it works for one, there are few consistent standards, right? And assessments for trainings. And therefore, what does that mean? It makes it more difficult to track exactly how the trainings are being affected. And this is, this is something that the Atlantic reported. And then instead, police and reform advocates have pushed for departments to prioritize de-escalation training. So that's something that we need to be looking at as a state as opposed to implicit bias training. We need to be talking about de-escalation training. What do you do to de-escalate the situation so that no one's getting harmed? And this is for the protection of the officer and the individual that's being apprehended or in the process of trying to be apprehended. I think that's, that's really important. And then body cameras, that's the other method that, you know, hasn't been proven effective when it comes to excessive force initiatives. And you got police departments across the country, right? And right here in Connecticut that have adopted cameras for officers, you know, often in the response to like the public pressure. What do we need to do around making sure that, you know, we're actually reducing, you know, excessive force incidents? And I don't think we've proven that, you know, it leads to police being disciplined or prosecuted for misconduct because we know it hasn't. So I think these are two of the things that we really need to look at when we talk about training. And I said it the other day, or it might, I may have said it today because this is the topic of discussion of late, um, to me, it boils down to home training, you know? Yeah. You have home training, so that, you know, how to act when you go out in public. And home training, to me, means that it's not brain science. It's not rocket science. Like, treat people the way you want to be treated. Yeah. Treat people. It, it's real simple. And we, we continue to complicate this thing, and it's not complicated. It is not complicated. Treat people the way you want to be treated. And I say to the community, and I say to the public, if they haven't watched and they can stomach watching it, they need to watch it. Because my question is this, and that was your son? What would you want? If that was your son, if that was your father, if that was your uncle, if that was your brother, if that was your cousin, your lover, your friend, even if he was a stranger off the street, I'll take it there. What would you want as justice? And I say to myself, because I thought about that this morning when I woke up, you can't put a price on life. No, you can't put a price on life. But yeah, we're being faced with civil and criminal. And what is, what does justice look like? Yeah. When you were holding police officers who have the ultimate power in our communities, how do you hold them accountable for such an egregious, I mean, it was egregious, inhumane, torturous. I mean, the man is begging. It was, it, it gave me, it wasn't believed when he said that he needed help and he was hurt, that he thought his neck was broken, that he couldn't move. Like, at what point, well, I mean, like the assumptions should be made that we're going to assume that he's telling the truth because it's supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. We're going to assume that he's telling the truth. And the thing about it is this, let me just say this real quick. There was actually a bill that passed out of the Senate that would have mandated that if an incident like this had happened, that they would have to stop, that they would have to call for emergency help and that they wouldn't be able to do what they did in this case. But that begs me to ask this question, why is that even necessary?

I was about to say that. I mean, even, I'm sorry to say this, Representative Porter, but even if you had that damn bill, they, St yesterday, last Monday, was going to happen. Sunday was going to happen. The 19th was going to happen. They have a policy, isn't the New Haven policy that you have to stop the van, call 9-1-1, meet you where you are? Yes. None of this matters. No, because if you attend the police commission meetings, um, you know, you'll see like it's just a bunch of talk. And we need to stop. We need to stop placating the foolishness, right? We need to call it what it is. There's always a process for something. That's why, like, you know, how many years later, um, and this is on the heels again of Devin Eaton just getting a tap on the hand, poop, and he gets to walk away. Oh, yeah. It's just like processes that are made to move around the other processes that were made to liberate us. So all you want liberation over here, we'll just find a way to mess it up over there. That's what's happening. And we need to call it what it is. And it starts from the leadership, right? So there's different people who need to be held accountable. It's just not one part. And that needs to be said as well. And we need to really press for that change. I don't think we should be funding the police anymore. I think think we should be moving monies into other spaces. I think in terms of de-escalation, let's look at what we're doing with these side tests. Let's think about why we're buying all these different equipment and everything else that was mentioned, right? I don't think there's a need to spend more money. I think there's a need to revise your budget and decide what makes sense, you know, because this is money wasted if this is what you're going to do to people. Cara Ellington has joined to joined the conversation tonight, and I can't wait to hear what you, your take is on this situation, uh, with, uh, Randy Cox Jr.

Um, well, one, I think this, this speaks to the, the root issue of racism and anti-blackness in the police force. I think that there is no, I don't think, um, I don't think at all, there, there is a desire, an urge for police officers, even, you know, black and brown police officers to, um, to treat black and brown life, uh, with, with punishment. Yeah. That's the only thing that can explain this. You know, we've seen nationally, we've seen mass shooters be treated multiple times with, with dignity and respect at a level with life preserving, you know, we see police interact with them using life preserving measures, bulletproof vest, the thing as simple as a 10-minute ride from Winchester down to Union Station, someone, a brother ends up paralyzed. You know, so, so I don't for one second believe that any of what the police have stated or the mayor has stated, he believes, which I find, you know, I find to be problematic that he's even speaking on that as he hasn't investigated, the investigation hasn't even been concluded, and the mayor is making opinions on the matter, which to me seems, um, you know, word problematic. But, uh, yeah, I believe that, um, we need to look at harm and violence like this and really re-uh analyze our relationship to policing in our communities, really like ask these deep questions and and look to reinvest all the monies. I just think New Haven just, um, the city just approved some, uh, a lot of, a lot of dollars to like more surveillance cameras and things that just enforce the culture of policing in the city, right? We need to look to redirecting those resources into into areas that would really keep our communities safe. And, um, and, and in situations, just being an organizer and, you know, I have it on my hands, I can count on my hands the number of mothers I've met that have lost their loved ones, um, sisters that have lost their loved ones, uh, people who are struggling with their loved ones who survived police violence. Um, we really need to reorganize these, uh, contracts so that the cities can take immediate action in, in, in, if it's going about an investigation internally, in front of the police commission, these these processes where cities, um, assess whether their employees have broken policy and procedure should not have to wait for the state criminal process. And we saw, we saw the union file, uh, injunction with the state to say that Hamden couldn't proceed with, you know, firing this officer until the state process was done because it would tamper with the investigation. That's something I think we need to do away with in our cities. You need to reorganize these contracts so that officers who violate policy and procedure, use excessive force, you know, what, whatever the measures are that we want to identify that are problematic, um, can get immediately, um, uh, you know, uh, if they say invest, you know, there's an internal affairs investigation and then they have to go before the police commission, whatever that process is, that that be expedited. And when we see in these situations, is this the city say, oh, our hands are tied, there's a criminal process. Well, the city shouldn't have to wait for a criminal process. You're you have an employee that violated any policy and procedures. And y'all best believe that if any one of us, black and brown woman on this call, violated as a city employee, violated policy and procedure, we'd automatically be fired. There'd be no question. Get held to a different standard. And that's something that is, um, you know, yes, the state is going to do what it does. And I believe the state is designed to reinforce and perpetuate police violence. That's a, you know, that's another, I'm not going to go into that conversation. But cities, these police commissions, they say they're stated to have the power to hire, fire, uh, police officers. Why in this situation, after we just observed the, the, I didn't watch the video because I can't, but I'm a, I, I heard what, uh, Representative Porter said, and I'm going to take heat of that. Um, why when we see in the, in the video of Stephanie Washington being shot, in this video where Randy Cox is being paralyzed, we see the evidence, we shouldn't have to wait for an investigation. We shouldn't have to wait for a state procedure that these police commissions should be able to, and it's not clear to me why they still can't, um, take immediate action to fire these officers. So that's the main thing that, that's got me, um, that, that I see a pattern of in Connecticut across Connecticut, yeah, or, uh, brutalized, murdered, uh, killed, uh, that these cities say, oh, we gotta wait for the state. You know, an employer, an employer says they have to wait for a state process to fire an employee. That makes no sense to me. No, no.

And you know, it's not even the police commission. It's the, in Hamden, it's the town's charter. The charter is an organ, it's basically the town's law, the ordinance of the town that, uh, provide the police commission with the authority, um, that they've, that the, the Town Council vests in us when they vote on the charter, right? So they vote on a charter, there's a section for the police commission that says, you all are authorized to do X, Y, and Z. All in favor, they all vote on it. And then we are now handed the charter, and now these are our, our official, um, you know, authority. Um, but as you said, in Connecticut, there seems to be, and we continue to see when these incidents happen all over the state, that, you know, the, the CBA seems to always supersede the town ordinances, also known as the charter. Um, also, and, and at some point, that has to be, we need a judicial ruling on that, um, because at some point, you know, I, I don't see the point even having a police commission in Hamden, New Haven, or anywhere, if our authority is superseded by a contract. Where else do you have a contract that supersedes your town's constitution? So that means that if we're following that, and I'm not sure if we should, um, but we are, then the police commission is completely ineffective, right? Pointless. Justice, you guys are hitting on something really critical. And I think that we have to first acknowledge the power of police unions, in particular. And I will be mindful, and I want everyone else to be mindful. I'm the labor chair in the House of Representatives, and I am all for unions. I know the importance of unions. I know there's stronger unions mean a stronger middle class. And we see a correlation from the 1950s through the 1980s where the unions were strong and the middle class was strong, and people were prospering and advancing in ways that have declined. Why? Because of union busting and because of the decline in union representation. But there is an exception when it comes to police unions. And I think Kerry, you hit on something really critical. We have to look at eliminating language in police union contracts that limit officer accountability. Yes. Union contracts and police bills of rights have actually formalized policies that limit police accountability. And I mean, they talked about it, and it's been noted in Police Union Contract Project, which is this project that studies all this stuff. And it says that these contracts erect at least one barrier, at least one, but we know it's more than one barrier, it's a proper oversight of law enforcement over officer misconduct in 72 of the U.S.'s 81 largest cities. That is what they found. That these contracts erected at least one barrier to proper oversight of law enforcement. And these provisions, in, in the provisions that we talk about, and they are part of provisions provided in the contract, unions care include the disqualification of, um, certain complaints from being investigated or resulting in discipline, restrictions on officer interrogations, options for officers to appeal for reinstatement, and officer access to privileged information during investigations. That's what I call, uh, cheating on the test. If you can take a look at the videos and the body cams and and written state all of this stuff before you write your report, what is that? Where is the accountability? Where's the transparency? Where's the honesty in policing? If you're going to be giving all that information prior to you writing your statement, I mean, we, there has to be a way in which we address that effectively and efficiently. And it's changing the way that we allow, um, police unions and contracts and these collective bargaining agreements to be to be had. What, what comes out of them? Because at the end of the day, it's about wages and benefits. I mean, like being able to include things around, uh, discipline and all the issues that come with police accountability. I don't think that that should be included in, um, police contracts. I don't. And I think that is that, that is the loophole. That is where they actually get to you know, make, make way in a way that they wouldn't if, if it was really equitable and fair. But they don't have to get to that point where we have to have some type of ruling over that, um, like you said, the town's constitution is formed and agreed upon and voted on by the elected officials who were elected by the people. So the people elect officials to put together a town's constitution. And then unbeknownst to all of us, we don't know because we go and say, okay, great, we're going to vote on this constitution, we're going to go to the polls, we're going to check off yes, we want this to be the constitution of the town. Over here is a whole contract that basically supersedes all of that. Now, the people that went to those polls and voted for that constitution, and the people who created that constitution, didn't vote for any of these folks. They don't even know who they are. They're like invisible. They're invisible people. So this needs, uh, if you say, I keep putting comments up here, there's Facebook user comments. That's Tiffany French. She's watching us on, um, the Hamden Action Now private page. And we have a lot of users that watch our programming. And she's right. What we're talking about today is very scary because what happens is people are have been protected. This behavior has been protected. It's been shrouded in protection for, I mean, you can't tell me that that rod, that rough ride that poor Randy Cox got was the first time that's ever happened in New Haven. Absolutely not. Absolutely not.

And I just want to add on to what Kerry was saying before. Came to the City of New Haven, right? So if the city is the example, within less than a year, six black people, one Albanian person, most of whom were women, were laid off just like that, right? So you see how we have weird standards for things. So as, uh, reporter pointed out, they get to see what they did. That's like me getting an accident, and then I got to watch the video, and I could then now I could write my report. Now, right? What I know is, um, no other job gets the protection they do. They get a tap on their hand, right? And we could go, you know, files will work elsewhere. That is wrong. That needs to change. Connecticut needs to realize the time for change is now. There's police there and justice nowhere. Absolutely nowhere. What did we learn from Stephanie and Paul? Absolutely nothing. In fact, let's take it back even further than that. What did we learn from Sandy Hook? Absolutely nothing. These officers are comfortable doing what they see their other officers do because they feel like they're immune. They feel like, I could do anything. What are you gonna do? Fire me? So what, where does that go? Does it affect my credit? Can I still buy a house? Still can I still get a loan? And why is that? Why is that? I don't feel a lot of economic pain. No, they go home. They go home for paid leave. But we do, right? Like this family now has to scrounge together front on for who would have predicted that? Nobody. So please don't, and I'm not saying this for those, you know, just in general, the stigmatization on this case, like many others, we are guilty until we are proven innocent. Let me say that again. We are guilty until we are proven innocent. The state of policing right now is atrocious. But it speaks to the other thing. You know, Connecticut talks about being so progressive, but the subliminal racism in the state is astounding. It's glorified. It's justified. It's supported. And we need to call up the toxicity for what it is. That white toxicity is not solidarity. That's not it. As she had mentioned, um, you know, this is rooted in a history that needs to be acknowledged. Yeah, right. Stop ignoring the picture. We need to teach in on that. Yeah. Yeah.

I think the other thing too, Rhonda, to track, you know, the other thing is because I think about some of these offices, these big cases that we've had, and you think about all the complaints that children have, and he only had two, um, disciplinary in his entire file. So I think it's important to track the complaints about officers' use of force. And I mean, it's crazy because most complaints, they're not public, which makes it hard to track them. And then the other thing that's really interesting is that, you know, there was a 2019 study that found that police officers who are partnered with officers who want to complain about excessive force, guess what? They are more likely to receive such complaints themselves in the future. And that's what I thought about when I watched, um, or when I heard, because I really didn't watch the video about George Floyd, but when I saw the picture and, you know, his knee on his neck and what he did, and then to see those, those new officers, right? Because they were new to the force, they were new. And I really felt like he was training them. He was showing us, this is how you do this. And this 2019 study confirms that. It confirms it. Found that police officers or apartment with bad cops that have bad practices end up in the future being that's that same type of car, which creates a culture. And, and now we're back to the culture of policing. And this is why leadership matters. This is why policy matters. Police brutality is a policy choice, okay? Yep. And I just want to highlight, it's important to you. I've, what's bothered me so much about the, the public narrative and the, no, I shouldn't say public, but the media narrative, the media narrative, and what I've heard the city officials say in relationship to the case is automatically downplaying and writing this, so like severely violent and harmful, um, uh, case of what happened to Randy Cox off to maybe possible, you know, going 10 miles over the speed limit, possible, uh, breaking shortly, um, uh, uh, all, all these things to evade what really is the matter at hand, which is the police's desire, all of policing, its desire to punish black and brown life. And what points to that in this case is, you can say, okay, the, the police can state their claims that that they haven't provided evidence of of what happened, which is, I, I saw in the media, he went 10 miles over the speed limit, he said it's not short to stop, stop from crashing into a car, whatever nonsense that they've stated. But when, when that officer went to check on Randy, and Randy said, what, I'm not exactly clear on what he's, what it was that he expressed, but he expressed he was in pain and that he couldn't move. The evidence that policing desires to punish black people is demonstrated in that moment. We see the same thing with black folks in, in the med, in the medical field, where we're at the hospitals or we're in the offices, and our pain is not considered. It's not taken serious. We're given a couple of pills and we're told to go home all the time. And this is the same exact matter. So it's not about a matter of a seatbelt. It's not about a matter of how it is about that it is. And it's also about this desire to punish and to be violence and to be harmful, uh, to, to black life and to brown life, simply because we are existing.

Well, let me say this, Carrie, I'm so happy you said that because I have lived the majority of my life with a real clear understanding about my blackness. And I believe that the culture that I live in, everything that happens to me that's wrong, somehow I'm getting what I deserved. That cop that slammed that guy's head into that wall and severed his spine and caused him paralysis, his attitude when he got out of that front seat was like, you know what? You got what you deserved. And I'm not going to go out of my way. I'm not going to stop. I'm not waiting for the ambulance. I don't give a damn what the policy says. I don't care what the camera, the camera is rolling. I know the camera's rolling. None of that matters because, you know what? You got what you deserve. And that is the, that's a problem with the American culture and my brain. That there is always a way to excuse poor treatment of black people because in the mind and the culture of the American people is that you are simply getting what you deserve because we believe that you deserve whatever hardship is being heaped on you. That's right. And what continues to prove that, in my, in my opinion, I want to make clear that this is my opinion, and I'm speaking for myself, when the mayor of states in the publicly that he believes there's no malice. Hmm. That speaks to the point you're making. That's the point. It's a constant, um, perpetuation and reiterating of, well, this was real, this, this person's harm is really not that serious. It, we didn't mean that intention. Our impact paralyzed this, this, this brother, but there's no bad intentions here. Please. I almost passed out. But a couple months ago, when I took a family member, when I had to follow, I want to draw a point here on what Kerry brought up because it's a, it's true because it goes all the way around. It's not limited to just the policing, right? It's emergency services period. Did you know that when you call 9-1-1, wrote that call, that's a problem, right? Did you know that when you call in, the clock starts for the response? There's a lot of things people really don't know. But let me go back to my example. So here I was, a family member needed police, sorry, not police, the emergency to be called. They thought they were having a heart attack because of where this person lived, the ambulance drove 20 miles per hour so they could have passed out in the back. Who cares? It just went up. We get to the hospital and in the emergency room, because of course I was back there, you know, I mean, talking about that, whatever. And there was this young lady. I honestly thought she was there with her family. Now, she was sitting on her own. Now, in New Haven, we say, is either Yale or jail. Okay? Out of nowhere, she starts acting up. You know what Yale did? Six white old police officers were brought in to restrain her. Over here, one of the nurses saying, oh yeah, she was here yesterday. She said she was raped. This is how we're getting treated. So they put her in an emergency room. Now they lock her down. They restrain her. And that child kept trying to come out. Everybody who interacted with her at that point was white. They finally decide to bring in an Indian doctor. But by that time, she was so disgusted, she started spitting at everybody. What do you expect to happen? So then they medicated her, they sedated her, she kept screaming, okay, screaming. And then they took her somewhere. So what are they taking her? She said, oh, you, you don't want to know that place. 15 minutes later, a black man is brought back there. They say, oh yeah, he's another one who OD'd. And what did they do to restrain it? Again, police officers. So it's not a hospital at the hospital. So it's not just, it's from the street all the way to the emergency room. We're being treated like animals, right? It's a big time problem. Well, you're getting what you deserve. Oh, you're a criminal, so you're basically getting what you deserve. You're a drug addict, you're getting what you deserve. You live in that area, that's what you deserve. Your hair looks like that, that's what you deserve. Let me just say this, when I get pulled over, it's license and registration, please. And whatever they see, that's it. Okay? And in, in this city right now, right? And you know, Stan, you're gonna have to own it. This gaslighting of each other, we're not buying it. Own it. You are leadership. You have was supposed to have the ability to get in there and do something. But again, we create processes on top of processes on top of processes. And what we're really doing is just to find supporting and legitimizing white supremacy. And until we're ready to see that for what it is and the crap and deal for it, focus. Let me tell you something else. If any one of us here get fired, and we're in within certain industries, that's it for us. Find something somewhere else. That's it. You got what you deserved. That's right. The police in New Haven could shoot up and watch you shoot each other and give you drugs to sell to each other. Oh, yeah. And let's not even get started with the sex workers, right? And the homeless. They could do all of that and get a tap in the hand. And they even leave. Who else gets punished and you're still getting paid for being punished? That's the life, white mercy. I, I just think that I've been saying all day, I talked to Lori Sweet twice. We were like, there's such a larger conversation has to be. It's an Amer, you know, the policing basically are upholding an American culture of of complete callousness for the humanity of black life. We see it over and over and over again. We watch it on TV. We watch George Floyd call out for his mother. We had poor Randy Cox on the 19th say, I hope I don't die like this. He said that twice. I hope I don't die like this. These people heard that. I've heard it on the camera. They were standing there. They heard him say this. But they could not break. We have to find out again, when Devin Eaton was shooting on that video at that car, what the hell is going through your mind? Kill him, kill him. It's just one of them. It's just one of them. Remember, this is the Ville, right? In Fair Haven, people are going missing and being hurt, and there's no justice over there. There's no time for that, okay? I, I just, I'm, I'm baffled. And it just, people don't understand when we say that our streets are not safe. I mean, I, I mean, I, you know, my daughters are just a little young teenager, but I've already made it clear, you, there's nothing good going on the street after nine o'clock. You know, I mean, you can't even say that anymore, Rhonda, because people are being killed in broad daylight. Forget about it. Just to kind of help us to wrap up, because I do have to jump off. I got it. Yeah.

Know it's going on. I wanna, I just want to give some stats just to close on so that people can let this marinate in their minds. Black people are three and a half times more likely than white people to be killed by police when blacks are not attacking or do not have a weapon. George Floyd is an example. Randy Cox is an example. And even though he did not die, right, he is still living and fighting for his life. The quality of his life is in the, it is in, in bleak hangers right now, and, and has been diminished tremendously. He went into that van walking and talking. He came out of that van paralyzed and barely talking. And now currently, it's in Saint Rayfield's ICU, unable to walk and unable to talk, unable to wipe his own tears because that is, that is where he is. And, and that is an example for black teenagers. Let's talk about our young people. We're 21 times more likely than white teenagers to be killed by police. That's Tamir Rice and Antoine Rose. A black person in this country is killed about every 40 hours in the United States. That's a day's work, ain't it? That's Jonathan Farrell and Curran Gaines. And one out of every 1,000 black men can expect to be killed by police violence over the course of their lives. This is Tamir Rice and Philando Castile. So these are all names, cases, murders that we know of. And what I'm saying is, no more, no more, no more, no more.

It just seems like it's gotten so bad now. No, what's happened is that the videotapes are rolling. What's really bad about that, Rhonda? Yes, the videotapes are rolling, but the videotapes still have not produced the convictions that are required in order to bring change. That's what's really pitiful about it. Yeah, gonna tell us. Oh, that's what you saw, but you can't see what you believe. I thought you were supposed, seeing is believing. Well, that, yeah, that's, that's part of the issue, I think, with the bad apple conversation or the, this is not reflective of the rest of the police department conversation. Um, because what winds up happening, happening systematically is you putting those quote bad apples right back in, right back to police, the city, or wherever, whatever area you're in. And not just that, Kerry, bad apples come from what rotten tree? Bad trees and rotten trees are law enforcement agencies that have been imbued with structural racism. And the processes for holding polices accountable, issuing civil penalties and payouts to victims, I mean, these are all ways that they really get to undermine police accountability. And then let's not even talk about how these cops get rehired. That's right. That's right. They need to be decertified and they should not be able to ever, ever hold another job policing in anyone's community. Period. That's right.

I just want to highlight, um, the pattern here. What we see, what happened and the harm and the violence done to Randy Cox by the New Haven Police is that again, they had an opportunity to offer him medical treatment after they harmed him, paralyzed him, and chose not to. Chose to drive him to, uh, put him to incarcerate him in the, in the jail cell downtown. You see the same thing with Jason. They're going. Robin, I heard you saying national names. I just want to point some local names. Jason was a, was a 15-year-old, um, in Bridgeport. May 9th, 2017, was murdered by a Bridgeport Police Officer, James Boulay, who still continually, continually polices that, uh, community, even though he has a number of, of, of, uh, complaints around excessive force. But Jason, uh, someone captured Jason on the ground and handcuffs, breathing, turning his head from side to side. So we see the, the same case where someone can be offered treatment, where their life is, uh, uh, uh, uh, where they're suffering, where they may not survive. But Jason, in the case, Jason was, uh, uh, killed, murdered, I call it. Um, he could have received treatment. Randy could have received treatment. Maybe Randy's, uh, injuries would not have been as severe had he not been tugged and tossed and pulled and dragged on the ground. Was another, right? So it's important to look at these patterns and to not just write it off as a case of a seat belt or, or, or a bad van. No, this is people's treatment, polices' treatment, um, and endangering black and brown life. You know, and, and, and that it needs to be named as such. And I think that our city officials need to do a better job and need to name these things and stop shying away and downplaying, right, what's happening and finding creative ways to, uh, you know, discuss these matters that, to me, kind of spin it off. I think it's really important for our city leadership to challenge the police unions. Yes. To get, it's worth it. We've seen too many lives lost to Robin's point nationally, within the state, within the city. We need, I think, bolder leadership that's willing to challenge your police unions and not cower behind it or on the side of it or pretend like it's on the side of the people when it's not. That's right.

So when do we, when do we get the wrong city leadership to do that? Um, and, and what I see in New Haven and in Hamden, um, I, I don't see that. I don't see evidence of that. Specifically, the city officials. Now, what you're not seeing is what the cost of these settlements are. So we're paying our police a hundred thousand dollars in overtime, right? But you're never going to see the numbers on every time we settle because that's done privately, right? So if you don't care about these families and the costs on the families, I'm sure as a taxpayer, you care about your taxes going up. And these police are costing us money, and that's just a fact. Well, how about having a monopoly on utilities, right? Instead of funding it, please, we put, you know, support somebody else to start a utility company. Why do we only have certain? Look at what's happening in New Haven right now with the internet. Comcast is running things. You are right. All these monopolies are popping up in places like, when do we say enough is enough? Well, we need to, I need, I, I really, I want to, I will continue to talk about the town's constitutions because that's a bigger thing. That's what people go to the ballot box and vote for. And for the, what we, I continue to educate people about that. I'm like, it's all good, but that town's constitution is powerless over those employee contracts. And until that is addressed, uh, in a legal matter, maybe even going as far as the Connecticut Supreme Court, we will, I'm afraid to say, see more of this. And can I add on to that, Rhonda? We, we also see like the executive officers of the city, right? Um, legislatures of the city deciding that for some reason, it's a, it's a problem when the union has takes issue with the city, and not when taxpayer dollars are spent on excessive course and police violence. That it's a problem if the police union may sue the city, but not if the residents aren't being protected and are being harmed. Then, correct. That's the dynamic we have to shift. That's another one. That's another, that's another pro, that's another piece of the problem pie.

All right. I mean, no one has any problem shelling out settlements behind closed doors and nobody knows about it. It's all private, all in an executive session. But when it comes time to saying, when you negotiate these contracts, we need to take this out. Oh, we can't do that. And to Robin's point earlier about the unions, I think it's important that we take away the power from the conversation of folks trying to gaslight folks into this, this idea of binary idea of, well, you support unions or you don't support unions. To me, this is less about unions and more about racism ingrained, yes, in the culture. And for some reason, us excusing it when it comes to policing. So I think we need to shift these conversations when it gets to the back and forth, whether we support unions or not. You know, my folks work for the MTA. They were part of unions all their life. They're the reason why I'm here today, educated with a college degree, because they were part of the MTA Union and they were able to get the resources they were able to get to give me where I am. So it's not about whether we support unions or not. It's about racism. And it's about a system that's no longer serving the needs it's supposed to serve. And we need a new system to really keep us safe. Yeah.

Never designed to serve those names either. Exactly. It was never meant to do that. It was never made to serve us. We are not who was supposed to benefit from that. And while I respect everyone's, uh, religious belief, this is not one we could pray away. This is not one where the police show about church, we're like, okay, fine, you know, go on what you did. We got to really call it what it is and we got to deal with it. We can't keep, you know, buttering the bread. We gotta say what it is, right? And we need to call it out. We need the white folks with the privilege to give us space and room to say what we need to say and to hold who we need to hold accountable, right? Because I find that what also happens is that we have barriers to our engagement. Going back to what we're on this point about the voting, one of the things I'd like to see addressed because I don't come from a country where we have this. In Trinidad and Tobago, you do not have to have a minimum financial amount to be an elected official. You just have to have people who believe in you and who will go to the polls and put you there, right? And I feel like when we talk about these changes we want to see, let's go for that. And another one I'll add to that, let's tax Yale. Let's change these things, right? Let's challenge Connecticut on its, its progressiveness, right? This land of white liberals. Let's see what happens. Blue state. That's right. The land of study. The, the study habits.

Well, I'm just so glad we had this talk tonight. That we have to keep these conversations going. Um, we need to talk more, plan more on how we are going to attack this because that young man could have been anybody's child. And I found him as my child. I, I think it's a son to me. He's a son to us all. He could be my son. And I, I can't even, like he said, I can't even breathe. Like I hyperventilate at the thought of what this family is going through right now. I put the link out there, the GoFundMe link. I'm asking everybody to please share that link with all networks. I spoke to Latoya today, um, Randy's sister, for almost a good hour. I told her, we will, I want to send her dinner, you know, I want to take them out, you know, I mean, we need to do everything on them, surround this family with love and resources. They are living, Lori Sweet said, they are living a nightmare right now. They, they saw him drive off and four hours later, he's fighting for his life. And, and we absolutely, and his life will never be the same. It's life will never, never be the same. I want everybody to give to his, uh, the GoFundMe for the family. Um, and we're going to talk more and we'll, we'll share out any plans for any type of actions that are going to come up in the near future. And we're going to continue to talk about this. Talking. Listen, everybody want to come at us because we have talks about these things, but then good luck. Keep coming because we're going to keep talking. Keep going. We haven't broken my back. Rhonda, can you put the link for the GoFundMe in the chat before we end? I did that. And I also, I put, um, I also made sure that if you go back and you see this on the Hamden Action Now YouTube channel, and it's also on the Twitter page right now as well, you can click on that chat and go straight to the GoFundMe page.

Well, I just want to close out tonight just saying to the Cox family, um, and to Randy in particular, that we love you. That we are praying for you. We are holding sacred space for your healing. And we are believing God, or a higher power, or whatever it is you believe in, for our healing. Holy heal from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet. I still believe we serve a God that delivers miracles. And if there are people out there that believe in the power of prayer, my petition to you all tonight is to pray like you've never prayed before for this family and all the other families who are having to endure police brutality and just the, the criminalization and brutality of black bodies in America. That's right. Beautiful, Robin. And I like them so much. Thank you. I'd like to add with this weekend, when we, um, I don't celebrate it because, you know, but, um, on the Fourth of July, think about it. Are we really free? Or we just tell ourselves that? It's not our independence day. Not at all, right? Happy birthday. Thank you. [Music]