The family was worried but was told to wait. The next phone call, hours later, was confusing and frightening: Mr Cox, 36, had fallen, was in hospital and needed urgent spinal surgery. The full picture of what happened in the intervening hours came to the fore this week when Mr. Cox’s family and his lawyers presented police videos showing Mr. Cox banging his head on the back of a police van. and limping, breaking his spine and paralyzing him from the chest down. The van had stopped abruptly and there were no seat belts to hold Mr. Cox. “You can’t even put it into words,” his older sister, LaToya Boomer, said Wednesday. “Amazing”. Mr Cox, who is black, remained in hospital on Wednesday on a ventilator with almost no movement under his throat, his family and lawyer said. After he was injured, police mocked Mr. Cox for not being able to sit up, a video shows. It was the latest in a series of troubling meetings with police in which blacks were injured or killed – incidents that fueled distrust of law enforcement and sparked widespread protests against bias and police brutality. It bears a striking resemblance to the case of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old Baltimore man who died in 2015 after being forced to drive unrestrained in the back of a similar police vehicle. “It brings me to tears,” said Jack O’Donnell, Mr Cox’s lawyer for many years. The graphic video of his client being injured, Mr O’Donnell said, was difficult to see. In an interview Wednesday, New Haven Mayor Justin Eliker said what happened to Cox was “terrible” and promised the city would handle the investigation with transparency and speed. Hours after the incident, he said, the city had alerted state authorities and state police, who launched their own investigation. “It is very important for us to respond to this quickly, decisively and openly,” said Mayor Elicker. All the police officers involved in the incident – a lieutenant and four officers – have been on paid leave while the department is conducting its investigation, Eliker said. Mr Cox had spent most of June 19 at a party in the area when police responded to the area following a gun complaint, Mr O’Donnell and police said. Police confronted Cox, found a gun, later said, and arrested him. Mr Cox was first placed in the back of a team car with seat belts, Mr O’Donnell said. Soon, however, the officers requested a larger truck. The truck, commonly used to transport suspects, had no seat belts inside the vehicle, he said. According to police footage, which was published in the media, Mr. Cox seems to be sitting unrestrained in the back of the van. It beats several times in front of the transport area. Then he hits his head hard in the back: The van had stopped suddenly. Mr. Cox’s relaxed body is motionless as he whines for help. “I’m stopping, I’m going to check on you,” shouts the driver, identified as Diaz police officer in the video. Officer Diaz stops the vehicle to check on Mr. Cox, who says he cannot move. The radio officer then rushes to the detention center for medical assistance. Upon arrival of the truck, police officers were seen mocking and criticizing Mr. Cox for his posture and his failure to stand up. “If you have to drag me, do what you have to do,” Mr Cox told officers, who then dragged him out of the truck. At some point, an officer suggests that he may be drunk. Mr. Cox begs that he can not feel anything and can not move. Eventually, the police dragged him out and dressed him in a wheelchair. Later, he is dragged from his tied hands to a holding cell. Mr Cox underwent surgery to fuse several broken vertebrae, his sister said. New Haven City policy does not require police to restrain those arrested in the back of van vans, but requires officers to immediately call an ambulance or medical staff to the scene if a passenger becomes physically ill or injured. In an email to city residents last week, Mayor Elicker said the van’s abrupt stop appeared to have occurred when the police officer driving was braking to avoid an accident. “This is not a proud moment for me or the Police Department. “We are all disappointed with what happened,” said Assistant Chief of Staff Karl Jacobson, who is expected to take over as next chief of the New Haven Police Department at a community meeting this week. “I want justice for Randy as well. We will work hard to make changes. “ Although police did not appear to have injured Mr Cox maliciously, Mayor Eliker said their conduct “showed a level of anesthesia that is deeply worrying”. Mr. Cox remains in the hospital, largely unable to move. Mr O’Donnell said doctors were “optimistic, but not optimistic” that he would fully recover. “He was able to speak at first when he first went to the hospital, but his oxygen and breathing were not good,” said his sister, Ms. Boomer. He can answer “yes” or “no” questions, he said, and was able to show slight movement marks on his left hand. Mr Cox has been charged with possession of a firearm in connection with the incident and a court date has been set for July 21, Mr O’Donnell said. Kirsten Noyes contributed to the research.
