Ben Crump Demands Justice For Black Man Who Broke His Neck & Left Paralyzed After Police Van Ride From Hell

Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump is speaking out to demand justice for a Black man in New Haven, Connecticut, who was left paralyzed after a violent ride inside a police van.

Video shows the moments Richard “Randy” Cox, 36, broke his neck while sitting handcuffed without a seatbelt inside a police van, CBS News reports. After suffering near-fatal injuries, the video shows police ignoring his repeated calls for help before dragging him from the back of the van and forcefully hoisting him into a wheelchair.

Cox remains hospitalized in intensive care and paralyzed from the chest down, and his family is demanding justice. He was at a block party on June 19 when police arrived responding to a weapons complaint.

Cox was arrested for being an ex-felon carrying a firearm. But during his transport to jail, authorities say Officer Oscar Diaz was speeding and came to a sudden stop to avoid an accident. That stop caused Cox to hit his head on the van’s steel back door and break his neck.

Crump took to Instagram on Monday to share the disturbing video from Cox’s arrest.

“This video is HORRIFIC! Randy Cox was put in a police van without seatbelts and, after an abrupt stop, was thrown into the wall HEAD FIRST.,” Crump wrote.

“We literally witness his neck break! As he was STILL lying on the van floor, he told the officers that he couldn’t move.”

It took officers four minutes to listen to Cox’s repeated calls for help. After calling an ambulance that came to transport him to a hospital, cops continued to berate him.

“Move your leg! Sit up!” one of them said.

“Why you not listening, bro? I can’t move!” Cox replied.

“You’re not even trying!” the officer said.

“You just drank too much,” another officer told him.

“He’s perfectly fine,” one of the officers said.

The five officers involved have since been placed on paid leave pending an investigation. New Haven’s police chief spoke on the arrest and couldn’t deny his officers were utterly in the wrong.

“Mr. Cox was mistreated,” Karl Jacobson said. “He should’ve received medical attention immediately. We can’t defend anything that was released.”

Following the incident, the mayor’s office announced several policy changes, including installing seat belts in all police department transport vans and requiring officers to buckle in detainees.

Cox’s family is outraged over the arrest and disturbing video footage as they team up with Crump to seek justice for Cox, who continues to fight for his life.

“It made me sick to my stomach, to treat somebody like that,” Cox’s sister, Latoya Boomer said. “At what point in time do you believe someone that’s saying, ‘I think my neck is broken?’”