By DAVE COLLINS

A Connecticut judge on Friday dismissed criminal charges against three current and former New Haven police officers who were accused of mistreating prisoner Richard “Randy” Cox after he was paralyzed in the back of a police van in 2022.

Judge David Zagaja dropped the cases against Oscar Diaz, Jocelyn Lavandier and Luis Rivera after granting them a probation program that allows charges to be erased from defendants’ records, saying their conduct was not malicious. Two other officers, Betsy Segui and Ronald Pressley, pleaded guilty last year to misdemeanor reckless endangerment and received no jail time.

Cox, 40, was left paralyzed from the chest down on June 19, 2022, when the police van, which had no seat belts, braked hard to avoid an accident, sending him head-first into a metal partition while his hands were cuffed behind his back. He had been arrested on charges of threatening a woman with a gun, which were later dismissed.

“I can’t move. I’m going to die like this. Please, please, please help me,” Cox said in the van minutes after being injured, according to police video. He later was found to have broken his neck.

Diaz, who was driving the van, brought Cox to the police department, where officers mocked Cox and accused him of being drunk and faking his injuries, according to surveillance and body-worn camera footage. Officers dragged Cox out of the van and around the police station before placing him in a holding cell before paramedics brought him to a hospital.

Before pulling him out of the van, Lavandier told Cox to move his leg and sit up, according to an internal affairs investigation report. Cox says “I can’t move” and Lavandier says “You’re not even trying.”

New Haven State’s Attorney John P. Doyle Jr.’s office said prosecutors and Cox did not object to the charges being dismissed.

Defense lawyers said that while the officers were sympathetic to what happened to Cox, they did not cause his injuries or make them worse. The three officers whose cases were dismissed were scheduled to go on trial next month.

“We don’t think that there was sufficient evidence to prove her guilt or any wrongdoing,” said Lavandier’s attorney, Dan Ford. “This is a negotiated settlement that avoids the risk of having go through the emotional toll of a trial.”

Rivera’s lawyer, Raymond Hassett, called the decision to charge the officers “unjust and misplaced.”

“The actions of the Police Chief and City Mayor in targeting the officers were a misguided effort to deflect attention from the police department shortcomings in managing the department and ensuring proper protocols were in place and followed,” Hassett said in a statement.

Attorneys for Cox and Diaz did not immediately return phone and email messages Friday. Cox’s lawyer, Louis Rubano, has said Cox and his family hoped the criminal cases would end quickly with plea bargains.

New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said city officials disagreed with the judge’s decision to dismiss the charges.

“What happened to Randy was tragic and awful,” he said in a statement.

NEW CANAAN, CT (WFSB) — Additional un-redacted names came to light from Jeffrey Epstein files this week, revealing that a longtime assistant of the disgraced financier is from Connecticut.

Lesley Groff from New Canaan was Epstein’s executive assistant for almost two decades. Her name appears in the documents more than 130,000 times.

Documents show that she was served a subpoena in 2019 after Epstein’s arrest, but prosecutors declined to charge her.

She also faced multiple lawsuits by victims accusing her of facilitating his crimes. Those were also dropped.

Legal representatives say she has cooperated with the investigation in the past and was never told she was considered a co-conspirator.

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A group of advocates is pushing to make Connecticut the next state to allow the practice of aid-in-dying, also known as medical assistance in dying, but they may already be running out of time this session.  

The push comes as New York became the 13th state to allow aid-in-dying after Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill into law late last week.  

A coalition called Compassion and Choices has been airing short films around the state, followed by discussions on the topic, in hopes of winning over more support.  

Advocate Deltra James is a regular panelist, talking about her experience coaching people preparing for the end of their life as a death doula.  

“What I see often is not so much a fear of the act of dying, but it’s a lot of fear around suffering and how they might die,” James said.

She said she sometimes helps healthy people with estate planning, but other clients are looking for support in their final days.  

Deltra was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019 and was initially given just three years to live.  

After her diagnosis, she decided to become an advocate for others and discovered being a doula.  

She’s among the advocates hoping to see the legislature revisit the issue. Lawmakers have tried and failed several times to allow aid-in-dying before pausing for the last few years.  

Sen. Gary Winfield (D-New Haven) supports the idea but isn’t sure the legislature will have enough time.  

The co-chair of the Judiciary Committee noted the body will need to take up several judicial nominations. He also expects possible bills on hot-button issues like gun control and immigration.  

“The number of days is short, and as much as I’m interested in the issue, I don’t know that we’ll have the actual time for it,” he said.  

Some critics remain staunchly opposed.  

“It doesn’t speak well for us as a society, we should be respecting life, we should be protecting life,” Connecticut Catholic Public Affairs Conference Executive Director Chris Healy said.  

Healy remains opposed on moral grounds, but he raised concerns about Canada’s experience with medical assistance in death.  

Health Canada reported just 1,018 deaths in 2016, when it was first legal, but a November report said there were 16,499 deaths in 2024. That accounts for roughly 1 in 20 deaths.  

Media reports indicate most of the deaths were for patients with a terminal diagnosis, but some patients cited depression or mental health issues as their reason.  

“In the goodness of our hearts, we shouldn’t be turning into this, sort of, cruel culture of death that infects our society today,” Healy said.  

James and others note that past proposals in Connecticut have included strict restrictions, such as requiring that someone be a Connecticut resident, at least 21 years old, and have a prognosis of six months or less to live.  

James also said people are free to live according to their moral beliefs, but she does not think that should be the basis for laws limiting other people’s choices.  

“It’s deeply uncomfortable that somebody else is comfortable with my suffering, or with other people’s suffering,” she said.