Connecticut man paralyzed after arrest sues New Haven police

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September 29, 2022

By David K. Li, NBC

Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump at a march for Justice for Randy Cox in New Haven, Conn., on July 8. (Arnold Gold / AP file)

A Black man who was left paralyzed after his arrest in Connecticut has sued New Haven police for $100 million, saying he was “violently thrown around” a transport van.

Randy Cox, 36, suffers from “paralysis below his neck” after the June 19 arrest on a gun charge, his lawyers said in a complaint filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport.

Cox had been arrested on a gun charge, handcuffed and placed in the back of a transport van. The police driver hit the brakes during the trip, officials said, to avoid an accident.

“While seated in the back of the transport van, Cox was handcuffed and had no adequate body or safety restraints for his use,” the lawsuit says.

“Cox had no warning of the impending and sudden stop resulting in his body being violently thrown around the inside of the transport van resulting in serious and permanent injuries.”

Read about the lawsuit.

Police often racially profile and mistreat Black citizens, even arresting them for water flowers.

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