Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump has joined yet another legal team to bring justice to Black police brutality victims. Crump will now represent Richard Cox, a 36-year-old man who was severely injured while being transported by New Haven police, according to ABC News.
June 18, Cox was arrested for unlawful possession of a firearm. Per the video footage, New Haven police threw him in the back of the police van without seatbelts. The van made an abrupt stop jolting Cox to the back wall of the van head-first. Cox called out for help, explaining he couldn’t move but the officers didn’t seek medical assistance. They allegedly assumed he was drunk.
What they thought was intoxication turned out to be paralyzation from the neck down. Cox also lost his ability to speak and is unlikely to walk again. Since Cox cannot defend himself, his legal team, family and local civil rights leaders have come together to fight for him.
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Crump also raised allegations that the officer driving the van could have been speeding or texting while driving. He said Cox’s family and legal team are demanding transparency from the police department about whether this was, in fact, the case.
“We want the cell phone records. We want the transcripts from the inner department communications. We want the policies and procedures,” Crump said. “We’re going to fully explore ... every possible legal remedy to give full justice, not just partial justice, but full justice to the family of Randy Cox and Randy Cox himself.”
Crump, like many of us, was reminded of Freddie Gray when reading about this incident. Gray was killed in 2015 while in transportation in a police van. By the way the officers handled Cox, dragging him out the van by his feet and throwing him in a wheelchair, he could’ve nearly lost his life too.
The incident led to a state investigation and the officers were placed on administrative duty. However, the family will have to deal with the consequences of the officers’ neglect for the rest of their lives.
“It’s absolutely heartbreaking to go to that hospital room, the ICU, to look in his eyes — his eyes are awake — and can’t do anything about it. Knowing that he would never walk again possibly, it’s disheartening. What happened is unacceptable and it’s inexcusable,” said LaQuavius LeGrant, Cox’s oldest sister via ABC News.