Fired Cox Cop Loses Arbitration

(Updated) State arbitrators have upheld the city’s decision to fire Sgt. Betsy Segui for her supervisory role in the mishandling of a detainee who suffered paralyzing injuries while in police custody — and expressed dismay that the arrested cop still thinks she did nothing wrong on that fateful night.

That decision is spelled out in a 21-page ​“award” issued on Tuesday by a three-person state arbitration panel. Read the decision in full here.

In a 2‑to‑1 ruling, the panel found that the City of New Haven had ​“just cause” to terminate Segui’s employment as a city police officer back in June 2023. Public Arbitrator Linda Yelmini and Management Arbitrator Richard Podurgiel voted in the majority, with Labor Arbitrator Donald Sevas filing a dissent.

Segui was fired by the Police Commission, upon the recommendation of Police Chief Karl Jacobson, for her actions as supervising sergeant of the 1 Union Ave. detention center on the night of June 19, 2022. That’s when a 36-year-old arrestee named Richard ​“Randy” Cox was brought to the detention center after having suffered a debilitating injury in a police transport van. Instead of taking seriously Cox’s protestations that he was severely hurt and needed immediate medical attention, Segui and other officers thought he was faking because he was drunk. They dragged him out of the van, booked him in a wheelchair, and then dragged him into a cell.

The Elicker administration wound up settling a high-profile police misconduct lawsuit with Cox and his family for $45 million. State police arrested five involved officers, including Segui, on two misdemeanor charges apiece, including reckless endangerment. (All have pleaded not guilty to those charges.)

“Almost more troubling than Sgt. Segui’s conduct on June 19, 2022, was her testimony at the hearing,” Tuesday’s award reads, in regards to Segui’s defense of her own conduct over the course of the state arbitration panel’s review of her case.

“She testified clearly and confidently that she did not do anything wrong on that day and that she would do it again if confronted with a similar situation. In the opinion of a majority of the Panel members, Sgt. Segui’s statements make a return to work impossible to authorize.”

The award concludes by stating that the city had ​“just cause” to fire Segui because she violated a number of local police general orders by failing to be law abiding and respectful, by not turning on her body-worn camera, by not properly overseeing her fellow detention center officers’ conduct, and by being ​“untruthful and inconsistent” in subsequent interviews with police investigators.

The award also notes that Sevas, the labor representative on the three-person state panel, disagreed with the majority’s opinion. ​“The Labor Arbitrator’s decision is based in part due to his opinion that the City and the Police Department were negligent in not requiring restraints in the transport vehicle which was, in his opinion, the sole cause of Mr. Cox’s injuries,” the decision reads. ​“Additionally, the Labor Arbitrator finds that no evidence was presented that Sgt. Segui’s actions exacerbated the injuries sustained by Mr. Cox.”

Tuesday’s decision comes six months after the same three-person state arbitration voted 2‑to‑1 to overturn the city’s firing of Officer Oscar Diaz for his role as the transport van’s driver the night that Cox was so seriously injured.

In an email comment provided to the Independent, Mayor Justin Elicker and Police Chief Karl Jacobson praised the arbitration panel’s decision to uphold the city’s firing of Segui.

“Ms. Segui’s actions were completely unacceptable and inconsistent with the high standards and professionalism of the New Haven Police Department and that our police officers demonstrate every day in keeping our residents and city safe,” they said. ​“When a police officer deviates from these high standards, there must be accountability and a clear message that those actions will not be tolerated.”

Update: Jeff Ments, Segui’s attorney in this arbitration case, said that he and his client are ​“very disappointed” with the panel’s decision. ​“Sgt. Segui did not cause the injuries to Mr. Cox and there is no evidence that anything she did, or that others did under her supervision, worsened his unfortunate injuries,” he wrote in an email. ​“She honorably served the City and its residents for approximately 15 years. While we wish Mr. Cox well, Betsy Segui should not be blamed for the City’s decision to use prisoner vans with no seatbelts.”

The 21-page decision states that three arbitration hearings were held between October 2023 and May 2024 in this case. At those hearings, Segui and the city had chances to present evidence, provide testimony, and cross-examine witnesses.

“The tragic events of June 19, 2022 left Randy Cox … with horrific injuries,” begins the decision’s ​“Statement of Facts” section. ​“As a result of the injuries which Mr. Cox suffered, the City settled his civil lawsuit for the sum of $45 million.”

That section goes on to describe what happened that day: how Cox was arrested in Newhallville ​“for carrying a firearm and being intoxicated”; how he was transported to the police department’s 1 Union Ave. detention center by Officer Oscar Diaz; how Cox was, ​“at most times, noncompliant and almost immediately began kicking the van door and rolling on the floor of the van”; and how Diaz jammed on the brakes mid-transport to avoid colliding with a car that had failed to stop at a stop sign, thereby flinging the unrestrained Cox headfirst against an interior wall of the police’s detainee transport van.

In response to Cox’s cries for help, Diaz stopped the vehicle to check on the detainee — and then called for an ambulance to meet them at the detention center.

That’s where Segui came in.

Segui was the commanding officer in charge of the detention center that day. She was working a voluntary overtime shift.

“At no time during this incident did Sgt. Segui wear or activate her body worn camera as required,” the decision states.

Diaz told Segui what had happened during the transport, including that Cox had said ​“he had fallen, couldn’t move and claimed that his neck was broken.”

The decision continues by describing in detail what happened to Cox at the detention center, and Segui’s role in failing to protect him from harm:

“Officer Diaz then said aloud ​‘If he really fell, I would not even move him. I would not even move him until the ambulance gets here, just in case.’ Sgt. Segui testified that she did not hear Officer Diaz’ warning, although she heard everything else that was said in the Detention Center on that evening.”

Sgt. Segui and other officers believed Mr. Cox was an ​“intoxicated person.” Sgt. Segui did not heed Officer Diaz’ warning not to move Mr. Cox until medical personnel arrived. Sgt. Segui did not believe Mr. Cox was injured, his claims that his neck was broken were false and he was merely intoxicated. She said ​“you ain’t cracked nothing. You just drank too much.”

Mr. Cox was dragged out of the van under the supervision of Sgt. Segui and could not stand. Mr. Cox fell to the ground and officers held him upright in a seated position. A wheelchair was retrieved in which Mr. Cox was placed. Mr. Cox slid out of the wheelchair. Mr. Cox was ​“pinned” to the back of the wheelchair and transported to the processing area. This was all observed by Sgt. Segui, and she made no attempt to intervene or direct the officers to handle the situation any differently.

Officers removed Mr. Cox from the wheelchair and dragged him into the holding cell under the supervision of Sgt. Segui. The ambulance personnel from American Medical Response (hereinafter referred to as ​“AMR”) arrived at the Detention Center approximately twenty-five (25) minutes after first called. AMR personnel did not believe Mr. Cox was injured and was merely intoxicated. They directed officers to place Mr. Cox on the AMR stretcher. The officers obeyed the directive of the AMR personnel and, again, Sgt. Segui made no attempt to intervene.

Segui and four other oficers were subsequently arrested by state police in November 2022 on charges of second-degree reckless endangerment and ​“cruelty to persons.”

Those criminal cases, including Segui’s, are still working their way through state court. Segui and the other arrested officers have each pleaded not guilty to those charges.

Following a city police Internal Affairs investigation, Chief Jacobson then recommended that Segui and three other officers involved in mistreating Cox be fired. (The fifth involved officer, Ronald Pressley, retired before he could be fired.)

The award lists some of the general order violations found by IA during its investigation of Segui’s conduct.

“She disregarded Cox’s claims of injuries [and] instead criticized him for not being able to sit up and ridiculed him for being intoxicated,” the decision reads. ​“She showed a lock of compassion and remorse for Cox while he [pleaded] for help.” And ​“she failed to intervene while Cox was being dragged and recklessly handled by the officers in Detention.”