Another Fired Cox Case Cop Wins Arbitration, Regains Job

by Thomas Breen

Officer Luis Rivera returned to work at the New Haven Police Department (NHPD) on Monday — after state arbitrators unanimously found that he should not have been fired for the role he played on the night that Richard “Randy” Cox suffered paralyzing injuries while in police custody.

Rivera’s reinstatement with the NHPD was included in the city’s latest weekly personnel report.

He has returned to the role of police officer, effective Monday, at a Range 1 / Step 8 annual salary of $94,927.

Rivera’s reinstatement comes a week to the day after the Connecticut State Board of Mediation and Arbitration issued an arbitration award in his favor. Click here to read that award in full.

All three board members — chairperson Linda Yelmini, management representative Kenneth Baldyga, and labor representative Donald Sevas — found that “the City did not have just cause to terminate Officer Rivera” back in June 2023 for his actions at the detention center on the night of June 19, 2022.

“Officer Rivera is pleased to rejoin his fellow brother and sister police officers of the New Haven Police Department,” Rivera’s attorney, Raymond Hassett, told the Independent in an email statement on Monday. “The fact that he was unanimously reinstated by an arbitration panel, without any punishment, confirms his termination was exaggerated and embellished without cause or reason. The facts support Officer Rivera was compassionate and understanding when handling Mr. Cox. He now wants to return to serving the good citizens of New Haven.”

In a separate email statement, Mayor Justin Elicker confirmed that the state arbitration board overturned the police commission’s vote to terminate Rivera’s NHPD employment for violations of NHPD general orders “related to the incident involving Randy Cox.”

“While the City disagrees with the Board’s ruling, we are required to adhere to its decision and will follow its direction, accordingly,” Elicker said.

The mayor said that Rivera has been directed to report to the police training academy. “He is currently assigned to administrative duties, and must complete the retraining and recertification process prior to being assigned to patrol operations.”

Rivera is now the second city police officer to regain his job after being arrested, and later fired, for his handling of Cox on the night of June 19, 2022.

Cox, then 37, had been arrested on weapons charges in Newhallville. He was handcuffed and placed, unsecured, in the back of a police transport van — and ultimately slammed his head against one of the vehicle’s walls when the driver, Officer Oscar Diaz, abruptly stopped to avoid a car that had run a stop sign. At the 1 Union Ave. detention center, Rivera and a group of other officers, under the supervision of then-Sgt. Betsy Segui, processed Cox and dragged him into a cell — while not believing that he was seriously hurt, and instead thinking that he was just intoxicated and was faking his injuries.

The incident caused national outcry and resulted in five officers — including Rivera being arrested on misdemeanor charges of second-degree reckless endangerment and “cruelty to persons.” Four of those officers — including Rivera — were ultimately fired by the police commission, at then-Chief Karl Jacobson’s recommendation. (One of the arrested officers, Ronald Pressley, retired before he could be fired.)

The Elicker administration later settled a federal lawsuit filed by Cox for $45 million.

Meanwhile, in January 2024, state arbitrators ordered that Diaz — the police transport van driver — be reinstated with the NHPD. And in July 2024, state arbitrators rejected Segui’s bid to undo her firing and get her job back.

Late last year, Segui and Pressley each accepted plea deals to avoid prison time in their respective criminal cases.

Rivera, Diaz, and Officer Jocelyn Lavandier, meanwhile, opted to take their respective cases to trial — leading a judge to dismiss their criminal charges altogether and grant their requests for accelerated rehabilitation.

The July 20 arbitration award in Rivera’s favor articulates why the board thought that Rivera should not have been fired for a range of NHPD general order violations, including in regards to officer integrity, trustworthiness, and rules of conduct.

“This Rule requires that Officer Rivera exercise reasonable courtesy while dealing
with the public,” the arbitration award states. “Officer Rivera believed Mr. Cox was intoxicated and he did not know he was paralyzed. Officer Rivera had little or no medical training. Even the medical personnel from AMR believed Mr. Cox was intoxicated and not paralyzed. When Mr. Cox was tested in the hospital many hours later, his blood alcohol was well above the legal limit. Additionally, he tested positive for cannabis and other drugs which were illegal. None of the ways in which Mr. Rivera interacted with Mr. Cox were discourteous and disrespectful.”

In still another section of the award, regarding the police commission’s finding that Rivera had violated a general order around arrest procedure, the arbitrators wrote, “It is likely that the majority, if not all of the injuries sustained by Mr. Cox were as a result of him being unrestrained in the transport vehicle (as no restraints were present or available). It is unknown and likely unknowable, if his condition was made even more dire by his treatment in the Detention Center.”

And so, the arbitrators found that the city did not have “just cause” to fire Rivera — and therefore he should be reinstated within 30 days.