Spur for change: Key moments of the police arrest, transport, and detention of Richard Cox.
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Police Commissioner Lawlor: Seeking clarity on special order.
What exactly qualifies as an “unstable medical or mental health status”?
And how should city police officers determine that an arrestee has crossed that line into needing immediate medical assistance, as they try to follow a new prisoner-transport policy put in place in the wake of the in-custody injury and mishandling of Richard “Randy” Cox?
City Police Commissioner Michael Lawlor posed those questions Tuesday night during the latest regular monthly meeting of the Board of Police Commissioners, which was held online viz Zoom.
Lawlor — a former co-chair of the state legislature’s Judiciary Committee and a former state undersecretary for criminal justice policy and planning who currently teaches at the University of New Haven — pressed on that issue during a discussion of “Special Order 22 – 03, Prisoner Transportation.”
That’s the new city police department policy that then-Acting Police Chief Regina Rush-Kittle signed on July 3 that, among other things, requires that officers seek out immediate medical assistance if a transported prisoner appears to need that help. (It also requires that officers secure transported prisoners with seatbelts. Click here to read the new policy in full.)
The special order came in response to a June 19 incident in which officers did not seek out immediate on-site medical assistance for Cox, a 36-year-old New Havener who remains hospitalized and paralyzed after suffering a severe injury to his spine while in police custody. Five officers have been placed on paid administrative leave in that incident, which is being investigated by the state police. Mayor Justin Elicker, Rush-Kittle, and recently sworn in Police Chief Karl Jacobson have pointed to this special order as example of the city responding quickly to update policy to make sure that what happened to Cox never happens again.
Tuesday night's police commission meeting.
During Tuesday night’s police commission discussion, Lawlor praised the goals and intentions of the special order — and then pressed on what he found to be some potentially unclear language that might trip up officers as they try to abide by it.
In particular, he drew attention to a part of that policy that states: “If a prisoner is injured, complains of injury, appears to be in an unstable medical or mental health status, appears to be in need of medical attention, or requests medical attention prior to transport, the Officer shall immediately contact their supervisor and request that an emergency medical service (EMS) be dispatched to the current location.” (Emphasis added.)
“I’m guessing, based on my own experience, that a pretty big percentage of people being transported are unstable in different ways,” Lawlor said. Perhaps they have a mental health issues. Perhaps they’re highly intoxicated.
How exactly should police officers respond if, for example, they arrest someone who is “extremely intoxicated.” Would that qualify as an “unstable medical condition” under this policy? How would an officer be able to determine if an arrestee’s condition is “severe enough to trigger this policy?”
“Officers do receive training on emotionally disturbed persons and intoxicated individuals,” responded Capt. Rose Dell, who took the lead in drafting this special order alongside Rush-Kittle and city Corporation Counsel Patricia King.
She said that current training covers the difference between people who are incapacitated and those who are just intoxicated. Officers are trained to consider whether or not someone is a threat to themselves and to others, she said. “If they’re unable to care for themselves and so mentally unstable” that they’re unaware of time and place. All of those are considerations that could lead an officer to seek out medical care and a transport to the hospital.
Chief Jacobson.
“We’re telling officers: Use your judgment,” Jacobson said. “But don’t be afraid to call” for medical assistance. “If there’s a line and you’re not sure, then take the safe line call a rescue.”
But the policy itself mandates that an officer immediately contact their supervisor and request an EMS dispatch to their current location if a person “appears to be in an unstable medical or mental health status,” among other conditions, Lawlor pointed out.
“I’m just putting myself in the position of an officer who sees someone is drunk,” he continued. “Are they so drunk that I should reach out to a supervisor immediately? Or do I have discretion to say, ‘He’s not that drunk’ ” and therefore doesn’t cross that threshold of needing immediate medical care, as required by this policy?
He noted that the policy includes a section on training, which states that all officers will complete a course of instruction on the practices and protocols of this new policy.
“I’m just hoping in the training these things will be clarified so everybody understands” exactly what to do in these situations, he said.
Jacobson said that part of that new policy-specific training will include observing a prisoner as an officer buckles them in to the back of a police cruiser for transport. If they’re slumped over, unable to keep their head up, or keep unbuckling themselves, he said, those could all be signs that someone needs a medical transport.
“What if they say: ‘I’m a CIA agent and you need to call the president’?” Lawlor asked. Would that trigger this policy’s medical-assistance mandate?
“Not if they can be safely transported,” Jacobson replied. Then the prisoner will be evaluated again at the detention center.
Jacobson also said that Lawlor’s line of inquiry raised a “great point.” “We can clarify that in the general order,” he said.
“For the benefit of the officers,” Lawlor said, “I’d like clear guidance and training, so no one can say after the fact that this wasn’t clear.”
Commissioner Darrell Brooks.
Fellow Police Commissioner Darrell Brooks described the new policy as a “great start.” He said everything that happened with Cox in police custody was also a reminder of the need for redoubled police officer training on how to make “a very quick medical assessment” to see if a prisoner is in need.
Jacobson said that, while that is important, in the Cox case, there were no ambiguities as to what needed to happen.
“He said, ‘I think I broke my neck,’ ” Jacobson said. “There will be fine-line circumstances, and we need better training, but with the Cox situation, there was no fine line.” He should have received medical treatment immediately, he said.
“They don’t need medical training to know that, when he says, ‘I think I broke my neck,’ he needs to stay there” and not be pulled out of the transport van, as Cox was, Jacobson said.
“The seatbelt thing is our fault, not the officers,” he continued. “We should have been belting people in. … But to reflect back on the Cox thing, that wasn’t handled correctly, and we wanted to fix that right away.” Thus the special order.
Commission Chair Evelise Ribeiro.
Police Commission Chair Evelise Ribeiro thanked the chief and the then-acting chief for putting forward this special order so quickly. “Policy needed to be changed, and policy needed to be changed expeditiously” after what happened to Cox, she said.
She called on police brass to prioritize translating this special order into a more permanent general order to be reviewed and voted on by the police commission. “I ask that this be at the top of the queue,” she said.