The five New Haven police officers charged in connection with the paralyzing injuries to Randy Cox while in custody have all pleaded not guilty.
They entered those pleas in their criminal court case on Wednesday. The State’s Attorney has charged them each with two misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment in the second degree and cruelty to persons.
Cox’s attorney Jack O’Donnell promised his client he would be at every court hearing. Although, he missed today's plea hearing because it began earlier than scheduled and was over quickly.
O’Donnell gave an update on Cox outside of the courthouse.
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“He is still paralyzed from the arm pits down, can’t do anything for himself,” O’Donnell said. “His spirits are generally good considering the circumstances. He’s disappointed the police officers were only charged with misdemeanors.”
Cox was injured on June 19 while in a police transport van. That van stopped short, Cox was slammed into the wall and hit his head. He was paralyzed that day.
On Sept. 27, his family filed a $100 million federal civil rights lawsuit against the city and the five officers involved in his transport.
On Monday, the officers filed a lawsuit as well in the case, citing American Medical Response, saying the EMTs failed to follow CT Spinal Trauma protocol.
They say AMR failed to apply manual stabilization and a cervical collar, and failed to stabilize Cox on a spine board, among several other allegations.
In that federal case, Mayor Justin Elicker has vowed to negotiate with Cox’s family to give them all justice. Those negotiations are scheduled for next month.
“There’s a court ordered mediation on February 9, I don’t expect it to resolve then, but we’re making substantial progress,” O’Donnell said.
The next criminal court appearance for the misdemeanor charges will be a virtual pre-trial hearing Feb. 23.
