Thomas Breen photo
Ben Crump (center) with Cox's family, friends, lawyers Thursday.
Richard “Randy” Cox’s lawyers and family put the Elicker Administration on notice that, within the next seven to 10 days, they plan to file a lawsuit in federal court alleging that the city violated the paralyzed 36-year-old New Havener’s civil rights.
They delivered that message during a Thursday afternoon press conference held on the front steps of City Hall.
Nationally prominent civil-rights attorney Ben Crump — standing alongside Cox’s mom Doreen Coleman and sisters Latoya Boomer and Laquavius LeGrant; local attorneys R.J. Weber, Lou Rubano, and Michael Jefferson; and local and state NAACP leaders Scot X. Esdaile and Dori Dumas — held the press conference to let the city and the public know that a long-awaited civil lawsuit will be coming soon.
“We think justice delayed is justice denied,” Crump said. “This is not a complicated case. This is a simple case. We see the liability, and my God, we see the damages. The only question that remains is if the city’s going to do the right thing. That’s it. It’s that simple.”
Key moments of the police arrest, transport, and detention of Richard Cox.
Cox’s family and attorneys also said on Thursday that Cox, who suffered severe injuries to his neck and spine after city police arrested him on June 19, has recently seen his health take a turn for the worse. He is now back in the hospital battling an infection and a persistent fever. He is paralyzed from the chest down.
The five police officers involved in this incident remain on paid administrative leave. According to Mayor Justin Elicker, state police have passed along information about their investigation into the cops’ actions that night to the state’s attorney, who is currently evaluating whether or not to arrest and prosecute the officers.
R.J. Weber: Lawsuit will be filed in 7-10 days.
“Frankly, we had hoped that today, we would have a finding by the state police on their investigation of these New Haven officers,” Weber said during Thursday’s presser. “We had hoped that today Randy would be able to be here with us. He has been working tirelessly with his rehabilitation. He was making some great strides. He has been working very hard until this recent setback.”
“We had hoped those things would have been completed by now so that we could have the federal complaint filed and presented to you today,” Weber continued. But, “due to those setbacks and delays, I don’t anticipate the lawsuit will be filed for another seven to 10 days.”
Weber told the crowd that he was holding a draft copy of the pending federal lawsuit in a binder at the press conference. The federal civil lawsuit, he said, accuses the individual police officers of “negligence in operation of a motor vehicle.” It makes claims “against the officers for violating Randy Cox’s civil rights for the way that they handled him, and man-handled him, when he was in that detention center in the sally port.” And it makes “claims against the City of New Haven.”
“All of these will be filed in a week to 10 days,” Weber promised.
After the press conference, Weber confirmed that Cox’s civil lawsuit will be filed against the city and the city police officers in federal court, not state court. He declined on Thursday to say what dollar amount the family is seeking in damages before the lawsuit is officially filed.
The case itself, which has sparked national outrage, dates back to June 19, when police arrested the 36-year-old New Havener on weapons charges without incident at a Lilac Street block party. En route to the police station, the driver of a prisoner conveyance van slammed on the brakes; Cox crashed his head against a wall of the van and injured his neck and spine. Rather than wait for a medical crew to attend to Cox’s crumpled and paralyzed body, officers at the police lock-up accused Cox of lying, demanded he stand up, pulled him out of the van, placed him in a wheelchair, then dragged him across the floor into a cell.
Throughout Thursday’s press conference, Crump and Cox’s family members, attorneys, and civil rights leaders called again and again for “justice” for Cox.
“We implore the mayor and the city leadership to be responsive, to join with the NAACP, to join with the family of Randy Cox, to join with the legal team to say, ‘We’re going to make sure that when we say Stand with Randy Cox, that it’s not just lip service. That there’s actions with that,” Crump said.
Cox’s sister Latoya Boomer said she would like to see the officers involved fired and arrested for the way that they handled her brother.
“Hopefully the city will engage us to see if we can do right, right this wrong,” Crump said. “If not, you see how it plays out.” He said that is not a threat. Rather, it’s said as “a matter of conviction” of Cox’s family to do right by their relative who suffered such serious injuries while in police custody.
"He Can't Wipe His Eyes If He's Crying"
Cox's mom Doreen Coleman, Crump, and Cox's sister Latoya Boomer.
Boomer and Coleman said during Thursday’s press conference that, while Cox’s health appeared to be marginally improving over the past few weeks, he suffered a sudden setback a few days ago that landed him back in the hospital.
“Randy was making good progress,” Boomer said. “He got off the breathing machine, completely off the trach, got off the feeding tube. And then, a few days ago, he go sick. So now he’s back in the hospital, not feeling well. He has a fever that he can’t get rid of.”
Boomer and Cox’s attorneys said that Cox remains paralyzed from the chest down. “He can’t even scratch his hair if it’s itching,” Boomer said. “He can’t wipe his eyes if he’s crying. He has no use of his fingers. He has a little bit of use of his arms. No movement from the chest down.”
Coleman said she had spoken on the phone with her son earlier Thursday afternoon.
“Even though he can’t do nothing for himself, I and his sisters and his friends” have been doing what they can to help him, whether that be sitting and talking with him, giving him something to drink, turning on a fan, or changing channels on the television.
“We are doing our best, but we need everybody else to do something,” Coleman said. “Pray. Sing. Say hello. Whatever you need to do.”
Elicker: "Best Interests Of The Entire City In Mind"
Chief Jacobson and Mayor Elicker at Thursday's post-presser media availability.
Mayor Elicker and Police Chief Karl Jacobson attended Thursday’s press conference outside City Hall, listening from the sidewalk as Cox’s family members and attorneys spoke, then greeting them after it had concluded.
Roughly half an hour later, Elicker and Jacobson offered an update and fielded questions about Cox’s case during a media availability on the second floor of City Hall.
The mayor was asked for his response to Cox’s lawyers’ promise that they’ll be filing a federal lawsuit in the next seven to 10 days against the city.
“I think we’re all expecting a lawsuit,” Elicker replied. He said his responsibility as mayor is to “keep the best interests of the entire city in mind.”
That in part means responding to a lawsuit “appropriately,” he said. It also means doing “the right thing to make sure something like this never happens again” and “ensuring we show the kind of compassion that someone like Randy deserves.”
He said that top city attorney Patricia King has been in regular contact with Cox’s lead attorney. He also said that he and city attorneys are open to meeting with Cox’s legal team and family at any time over the next seven to 10 days before the lawsuit is filed.
The mayor notedthat the the police department has upgraded its transportation policies and department-wide training on“active bystandership” and deescalation in hopes of avoiding a similar future incident.
Elicker and Jacobson said that they had visited Cox last week, when he was still at a rehabilitation facility and before his recent readmission to the hospital.
“It was a little bit uplifting, because Randy was improving a little bit,” the mayor said.
He said the three of them “talked about sports. We talked about how he was doing. We talked about how he was doing PT many times a day, and we did some small talk about just how things are going with his family and day-to-day life. And the chief and I again expressed how sad we are for what happened to him.”
Click on the videos below to watch both of Thursday’s press conferences in full.