Officer gets 40 months after beating 60-year-old man in wheelchair
Published: June 12, 2009
Updated 5 months ago
A Chicago police officer has been sentenced to 40 months in federal prison for beating a 60 year old man who was handcuffed and shackled to a hospital emergency room wheelchair.
Randy Miles had been brought in drunk and with stab wounds when Officer William Cozzi was called to investigate. In an attack that was caught on videotape, Cozzi shackled Miles and hit him eleven times with a sap. Cozzi then claimed that Miles had attacked him and even had him charged with resisting arrest before the existence of the videotape became known.
The sentence comes amid growing tensions between Chicago Police 
Superintendent Judy Weis — a former FBI official who was brought in following a series of police scandals — and rank and file police officers, many of whom were outraged at the verdict. The attack took place in 2005, and Cozzi had already pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor battery charge in county court and had served 18 months on probation when Weis referred the case to the FBI for civil rights violations. Cozzi is white and the victim is black.
Cozzi’s defense attorney, Terrence Gillespie, blamed Weis after the verdict for bringing a “misguided and vindictive” prosecution. “I’ve got a message for all those fine officers in blue out there,” Gillespie stated angrily. “Affter 15 years on the job, don’t snap. You’ll get thrown under the bus, and it’ll be a federal bus and it’ll be by your own superintendent.”
Cozzi will now lose not only his job but also his pension. Prior to the incident, he had served on the force for 15 years with no complaints of brutality. In his guilty plea, he claimed, “I let my frustrations get the best of me and made a terrible mistake in judgment.” However, the judge ruled that the beating was not spontaneous but deliberate.
US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald told reporters, “We will back up police officers who do reasonable things under the circumstances, but at the same time, everyone needs to understand … that when people cross the line and assault someone and then lie about it, that has to be addressed too.”
The CBS13 News report can be read here.
This video is from CBS13.com, broadcast June 11, 2009.
Download video via RawReplay.comcer
21 comments
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3 years seems pretty light. I’ll bet if he wasn’t a cop it would have been 20 years.
It’s about time that a cop be held accountable for his actions. Beating someone is a crime, no matter who it is that is doing it. I would have given this scum lots more time than that, but then, I’m sick of cops treating us like they are judge, jury and executioner before we have ever been found guilty of anything. And yea, it takes a real man to beat up a 60 year old drunk. Asshole. I hope he gets what is coming to him in the slammer.
As you can see, the public has no sympathy for the cop. Why would that be? There is to much police violence on citizens. For instance, how many more taser deaths will we have to read about before something is done about it? Meanwhile, people continue to die from tasering.
Also, in the video other police were just standing there letting their cop friend beat this 60 yr old drunk tied down in a wheelchair. Not one of them stopped it. In my opinion, a crime was committed and the other officers were part of it for condoning it and not stopping a crime. Had there not been a video recording the assault, nothing would have ever been done about it.
Maybe it should be mandatory to arrange for police officers in active duty to take some time off and away from it all from time to time.
This guy deserves the sentence. The police union seems to feel there needs to be more understanding, that they have some sort of license to impose judgement on citizens on the spot. The fact the other police stood and watched this assault confirms that attitude of being above the law. The fact is, they are in positions to use legally necessary force, a license stronger than citizens may enjoy but in return, they have an obligation of public trust and they abused that in this case as sadly, they do too often.
Having said that, what is it with this American penchant for overkill with pensions? Why is it that pensions are treated as fair game? Using the same stupid logic, why does the system not go back and retrieve every dollar the guy ever made, take his house, his kid’s toys, his lawnmower. Why is his pension not seen as just as secured as pay to the point of dismissal. His pension is in good part owned also by his family, it is part of the marital assets. Should he die, his wife would receive some ongoing pension benefit. Now she will not. What did she do wrong?
“As you can see, the public has no sympathy for the cop. ”
Oh, trust me, go to any local news website and you will see the police apologists come out of the wood-work to defend the most despicable & disgusting police behavior. Hell, you’ll even find local police on there defending their bros in blue.
I was quite shocked to hear my mother defend that cop down in TX who Tazed the 72 year-old grandma. “She was being an asshole. What was he supposed to do?” OMG! I’m like yeah, she’s 72, its not like he couldn’t have bear-hugged her or just pushed her up against the car and handcuffed her. Instead, just torture her with a Tazer!
someone I work with said about the cop that tased and shot a Chihuahua “but he probably felt he was in danger, that his life was threatened.. after all, he was bit 26 times”..
Uh, only a MORON reached for the dog after the first few bites.. 26 times? and that doesn’t ring of “mentally deficient”? .. what about getting a blanket? or towel? or leather gloves out of the cruiser? .. or calling ANIMAL CONTROL.. “life threatened”? so he tased and shot a 2 pound dog??
It seems the cops reflect the society at large.. ignorant fucktards that can’t be expected to control themselves for any reason.
I have 2 chihuahuas. One weighs 7 lbs and the other is about 8.5 lbs. Oh, yes. Quite sizeable and dangerous! Ha ha ha.
I once put my hand in fire and I was smart enough not to keep putting in back in.
If a cop is under such “stress” that they might “lose it” and strap someone down and brutalize them, shouldn’t that cop have been in therapy? seriously..
and if a cop does exactly what they are supposed to arrest people for, exactly what OTHER people go to prison for, why shouldn’t the cop suffer the same fate? The cop stopped being a cop and became a criminal when he chained someone down and beat him..
The poor dear is going to lose his pension! He should lose his nut sack. The end of the rule by police in the USSR came when the police became so distrusted that the , non government, criminals could get out of arrests by threatening the police with confessing and telling the court that the arresting cops were in on the crime. I just re- read the Gulag Archipelago. It looks like it is happening here with our criminal politicians, we’ll be next.
This cop is bravery personified.. Thank heavens we have officers like this to protect us from the horrors of the wheelchair bound and the elderly!
“Cozzi then claimed that Miles had attacked him and even had him charged with resisting arrest before the existence of the videotape became known.”
Cozzi was lying his butt off and would have sent this guy jail on a bogus rap to cover up his crimes.
No sympathy. send him to prison, put him in with the general population.
All tose men in blue watching are just as guilty. We would have been charged with compliecity and they should be too..
It is time that the courts look more closely at the trumped up charge of “resisting arrest”. All a cop has to do is suspect, look for, hope for or incite a citizen in some way and the “resisting arrest” charge comes into play. Now the cop has the opportunity to handcuff and beat the Be-Jesus out whoever pushes their buttons that day. As posted earlier, judge, jury and executioner on the spot; guilty as sin with little chance of proving yourself innocent.
Spot on savantster, spot on. I totally agree with your assessment. They are like much of society now, can’t control themselves and in a sense takes slight at the smallest disrespect and do whatever it takes to make them feel good. He should have gotten more time but this will do. The defense attorney making the statement that watch out you cops, you will be thrown under the “federal” bus if you snap. There are two things that disturb me about what he said. One the reason why the superintendant went federal was the punishment the first time wasn’t enough. Also the defense attorney is saying what all of us have known for a long time and that is local govt. will be more sympathetic to the police than Federal. Two, he should be thrown under the bus if he snaps and attacks somebody (just like that 300 pound cop that beat that 5 foot 1 female bartender in chicago when she stopped serving him). Heck I can’t snap and attack somebody without major repercussions, and he shouldn’t be also. And oh by the way cops you should be looking out for the society you “protect” than your own gang, that’s what you are supposed to do.
I have always said that the only way that they are going to tackle dirty cops and have them go the straight and narrow is to use the RICO act (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ) against them. “Under RICO, a person who is a member of an enterprise that has committed any two of 35 crimes—27 federal crimes and 8 state crimes—within a 10-year period can be charged with racketeering. Those found guilty of racketeering can be fined up to $25,000 and/or sentenced to 20 years in prison per racketeering count. In addition, the racketeer must forfeit all ill-gotten gains and interest in any business gained through a pattern of “racketeering activity.” RICO also permits a private individual harmed by the actions of such an enterprise to file a civil suit; if successful, the individual can collect treble damages.” It was used and still used against the mob and any organized crime or institution. A RICO-related charge is considered easy to prove in court, as it focuses on patterns of behavior as opposed to criminal acts. This is why this tool is a dangerous federal tool used against organized anything, it gives the govt. an ability to shutdown your operation and force people to testify against one another to get a lesser charge.
Why no perjury charges against the officer?
I’m just glad he’s going to jail. I’m sick of these damn cops and their ego’s. Should of been longer, but I’m sure he’ll be a mark in jail
If this guy is a “fine officer”, I hesitate to think what a “less than fine Officer” would have done to that old man. The law is the law. Or should be.
From the ’60’s we know that the PIGS are “ARMED AND DANGEROUS”.
It isn’t to “PROTECT AND SERVE”, it is “SHOOT AND COVER-UP.” Where else do you go to drive a new car , carry a gun and harass people when you have a small penis?
Amazingly biased coverage by the news in favor of the police. Let’s see, it’s stated that the officer had never had a complaint against him in 15 years? Well, that’s a lie. Even good cops get complaints just about every time they must use force to arrest. Did this cop never make an arrest before of the occasional drunken ain’t gonna-take-me-in idiot?
What happened is, the complaints were “investigated” and thrown out, as is normal. What a real reporter would ask is, how many times did this officer bring in a banged up perp and then charge him with resisting arrest? And now, how many of those were the officer “taking out frustration”?
The fact that there are cops who will beat someone for whatever reason and then of course charge them with resisting arrest to explain the bruises and blood is no secret among people who have any dealings with the officers, even those who proudly count them as family and friends and are trusted with the truth.
And that “well, I snapped” defense? Got a laugh out of that one. Let the next regular joe charged with assault try to tell the judge to let him go because “I snapped”. You think it would work?
What’s more outrageous is how these idiot cops think they have a “right” to “snap” after 15 years of “service” and find this verdict unfair because an asshole cop was put away for something that cops do everyday.
Fuck pigs, fuck Patrick Fitzgerald, and fuck Chicago, which apparently never ceased being a cesspool of iniquity.
Since this is in Chicago—where are all the pigs that went NAZI in ‘68? This is probably one of the sons from that gene pool…