A former Connecticut police officer has pleaded guilty to mistreating a prisoner who was left paralysed after being thrown from a police van. Betsy Segui, a former sergeant in New Haven, admitted second-degree reckless endangerment in a New Haven Superior Court hearing on Wednesday and received a 60-day suspended jail sentence.
Richard “Randy” Cox, 39, was left paralysed from the chest down on 19 June 2022 after the police van he was riding in braked hard, sending him head-first into a metal partition. He had been arrested on charges of threatening a woman with a gun, which were later dismissed. Despite his pleas for help, officers at the station mocked him and accused him of being drunk, according to police footage.
Segui's lawyer, Gregory Cerritelli, said she wanted to put the case behind her and is no longer working in law enforcement. Three other officers, Oscar Diaz, Jocelyn Lavandier and Luis Rivera, have rejected plea deals and will face trial on charges of cruelty and reckless endangerment. A fifth officer, Ronald Pressley, accepted a similar plea deal last week.
Cox's lawyer, Louis Rubano, said the family had hoped all five officers would accept plea bargains to avoid reliving the events. The city of New Haven settled a lawsuit by Cox for $45 million in 2023. The case drew comparisons to the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore and led to reforms including a statewide seat belt requirement for prisoners.
